The Chinese and US navies yesterday were set to hold high-level talks over tension in the South China Sea after a US warship challenged China’s territorial assertions in the disputed waters this week.
US chief of naval operations Admiral John Richardson and his Chinese counterpart, Admiral Wu Shengli (吳勝利), were to hold an hour-long video teleconference yesterday, a US official said.
A spokesman for China’s Ministry of National Defense said that Wu would present China’s “solemn position on the US vessel’s entry without permission” into waters in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), which Taiwan also claims.
Photo: EPA
Both officers initiated the meeting to discuss recent operations in the South China Sea and naval ties, the US official said. It will be the third video teleconference between the countries’ naval chiefs.
Beijing rebuked Washington for sending a guided-missile destroyer within 12 nautical miles (22.2km) of one of China’s artificial islands in the Spratlys on Tuesday, saying it had tracked and warned the USS Lassen and called in the US ambassador to protest.
“We would urge the US side not to continue down the wrong path,” ministry spokesman Yang Yujun (楊宇軍) told a regular briefing. “But if they do, we will take all necessary measures in accordance with the need.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) will next week visit Vietnam, another vocal claimant in the South China Sea, and Singapore, while Chinese Minister of National Defense Chang Wanquan (常萬全) is to attend a meeting of Southeast Asian defense chiefs in Malaysia.
The patrol was the most significant US challenge yet to territorial limits China claims around its artificial islands in one of the world’s busiest sea lanes.
Separately, the English-language China Daily reported that Admiral Harry Harris, commander of US forces in the Pacific, is to visit Beijing next week. It cited an unnamed source and gave no further details.
Yang said the plan was for Harris to visit before the end of the year, and that both sides remained “in communication” about it.
A US embassy spokesman declined to comment.
Harris has been highly critical of China’s island building in the Spratlys. This year he said China was using dredges and bulldozers to create a “great wall of sand” in the South China Sea.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is on a two-day visit to Beijing, yesterday expressed concern over the territorial dispute and suggested China go to international courts to resolve the row.
“The territorial dispute in the South China Sea is a serious conflict. I am always a bit surprised why in this case multinational courts should not be an option for a solution,” Merkel said in a speech in Beijing.
“Nevertheless, we wish that the sea trade routes stay free and safe, because they are important for all,” she said.
Despite criticism of China’s action in the South China Sea, foreign navies from the US to Europe have sought to build ties with their Chinese counterparts.
A French frigate docked at China’s main South China Sea base in Guangdong Province on Wednesday on a four-day visit. It will participate in a maritime exercise about accidental encounters at sea.
Two Australian warships will also hold exercises with the Chinese navy in the South China Sea next week, Australian Minister of Defence Marise Payne said yesterday.
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
Czech officials have confirmed that Chinese agents surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March 2024 and planned a collision with her car as part of an “unprecedented” provocation by Beijing in Europe. Czech Military Intelligence learned that their Chinese counterparts attempted to create conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, which “did not go beyond the preparation stage,” agency director Petr Bartovsky told Czech Radio in a report yesterday. In addition, a Chinese diplomat ran a red light to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese
RSS