China has said it will conduct “routine” naval exercises in the Pacific Ocean, in the week after a major diplomatic campaign by US President Barack Obama to assert the US as a Pacific power.
The defense ministry said the exercises, to be held later this month, did not target any particular country, but the announcement comes against a background of growing tensions over maritime disputes in the Asia-Pacific region.
Obama, who has dubbed himself the US’ first Pacific president, said last week the US would deploy up to 2,500 marines to Australia and tighten air force cooperation, a move seen as a response to China’s growing regional might.
China’s freedom of navigation “shall not be subject to any form of hindrance,” the Chinese defense ministry said in a brief statement on Wednesday announcing the naval exercises in the western Pacific.
“This is a routine drill arranged under an annual plan, does not target any particular country or target and complies with relevant international laws and international practice,” it added.
Obama flew home on Saturday after a seven-day tour of Pacific nations, during which he took in a trio of summits and announced greater military involvement in the region.
“Here is what this region must know. As we end today’s wars, I have directed my national security team to make our presence and missions in the Asia-Pacific a top priority,” the US president announced during a visit to Australia.
Washington’s new diplomatic campaign to assert itself as a Pacific power has alarmed China, which sees initiatives like stationing marines in Australia as intruding into its sphere of influence.
China’s Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) has warned against interference by “external forces” in regional territorial disputes including in the South China Sea, a strategic and resource-rich area where several nations have overlapping claims.
China claims all of the maritime area, as does Taiwan, while four Southeast Asian countries declare ownership of parts of it, with Vietnam and the Philippines accusing Chinese forces of aggression there.
The competing claims have led to outbreaks of tension between China and its neighbors in recent years, including with the Philippines and Vietnam in recent months, and with Japan late last year.
Asia-Pacific leaders held talks on the disputed territories at a summit on Saturday, in a major diplomatic coup for the US, which had pushed for the topic to be raised despite objections from Beijing.
China’s official comments on Obama’s trip were muted, but state news agency Xinhua said Asian suspicions would be raised by the plan to base troops in Australia and by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s declaration that the 21st century will be “America’s Pacific century.”
“If the United States sticks to its Cold War mentality and continues to engage with Asian nations in a self-assertive way, it is doomed to incur repulsion in the region,” the agency said.
“The hard fact is that the Pacific Ocean belongs to all countries sharing its shores, not just the United States,” it added.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was