A US decision to use a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in joint naval drills with South Korea constitutes a “fresh provocation” to China and its neighbors, a senior naval officer said yesterday.
In a commentary published in the official China Daily, Rear Admiral Yang Yi (楊毅) said Washington would “pay a costly price for its muddled decision” to participate in further drills near Chinese territory over Beijing’s objection.
Yang also warned it was “inadvisable” to push a country of 1.3 billion people, noting that there was instead wide scope for US-China naval cooperation should Washington choose the route of caution.
Last week, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said future joint US-South Korea drills would involve the nuclear-powered USS George Washington in the Yellow Sea, which separates the Korean Peninsula from China.
“This would be a fresh provocation following a series of joint US-ROK activities that have caused tensions in East Asia,” Yang said, referring to South Korea by its official abbreviation.
“Offending Chinese people is not in the fundamental interest of the US,” warned the rear admiral, a former director of the Institute for Strategic Studies at the People’s Liberation Army National Defense University. “Any activity aimed at pushing a country with a 1.3-billion populace with enormous potential would be inadvisable.”
The US and South Korea last month conducted massive joint naval and air exercises in the Sea of Japan, which were opposed by Beijing.
The drills were a show of force against North Korea — China’s ally — following the sinking of a South Korean warship blamed by Seoul and its allies on a North Korean submarine.
China is North Korea’s closest ally and trade partner and Beijing has refused to join in international condemnation of Pyongyang for the incident.
Beijing had expressed concern about the July 25 to July 28 drill, which was initially supposed to be held in the Yellow Sea, but was later relocated to the Sea of Japan after Beijing’s protests.
China staged its own naval, air and artillery exercises late last month, though it was not clear if the drills had been pre-planned or were in response to the US-South Korea exercise.
“Washington’s adherence to the Cold War mentality and its excessive dependence on military means to resolve international disputes will lead the superpower to bigger strategic setbacks,” Yang said. “It is up to the US to take some initiatives to change its long-established position for the sake of better bilateral ties.”
US officials worry that Beijing’s more assertive stance in the Pacific Ocean could undercut the US’ long-dominant naval power in Asia. China maintains that its army build-up is purely for national defense and poses no threat to other countries.
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