(Reuters) – US and China trade jibes as military tensions grow between the world’s two largest economies, with the US Secretary of Defense promising not to “give an inch” in the Pacific and China saying Washington risked the lives of soldiers.
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper listens to US State Department news after the 30th AUSMIN in Washington, DC July 28, 2020. Brendan Smialowski / Pool via REUTERS
Both are conflicts over issues of technology and human rights for Chinese military activities in the disputed South China Sea, with each accusing the other of deliberately provocative behavior.
In the latest U.S. move against China ahead of the November presidential election, Washington on Wednesday blacklisted 24 Chinese companies and targeted individuals over construction and military actions in the busy South China Sea waterway.
In Hawaii, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that Beijing is using an aggressive military modernization program in an effort to project power worldwide.
“To advance the CCP’s agenda, the People’s Liberation Army is pursuing an aggressive modernization plan to reach a world-class army by the middle of the century,” said Esper, referring to the ruling Chinese Communist Party. .
“This will undoubtedly embrace the provocative behavior of the PLA in the South and East Seas, and everywhere else the Chinese government has taken a critical view of its interests.”
However, the United States also wants to “hopefully continue to work with the People’s Republic of China to get them back on a path that is more in line with international rules based order,” Esper added.
Speaking for a regional tour, Esper described the Indo-Pacific as the epicenter of a “competition of great power with China”.
He added, “We will not relinquish this region, an inch of land if you will, to another country, any other country that thinks its form of government, its views on human rights, its views on sovereignty, its views on freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, all those things that are somehow better than what many of us share. ”
In Beijing, the Ministry of Defense of China fired back at “certain American politicians” that they damaged Sino-American military ties in the run-up to the November elections for their own selfish gain, and even sought to make military clashes.
“This kind of behavior endangers the lives of frontline officers and soldiers on both sides,” spokesman Wu Qian told reporters at a monthly briefing on Thursday.
China is not afraid of “provocation and pressure” from the United States, and will resolutely defend itself and not cause the United States any problems, he added.
“We hope that the US side will truly adopt a strategic vision, view China’s development with an open and rational attitude, and leave behind the swamp of fear and entanglement.”
Tensions, including drilling in China along the coast this week, have raised fears of accidental conflict, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen warned Thursday.
Reported by Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Additional reporting by Cate Cadell and Yew Lun Tian in Beijing; Edited by Clarence Fernandez
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