On Saturday, there was a near-collision between a Chinese warship and the USS Chung Hoon, an American destroyer, while Canada and the U.S. were conducting a joint sailing mission through the Taiwan Strait.
As Becca Lower reported:
As I wrote earlier on Saturday, the U.S. is taking part in a summit this weekend, the Shangri-La Dialogue Asian security summit in Singapore, with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in attendance, having as an aim to reaffirm alliances in the region, and (possibly) better one-one communication with Chinese officials over ongoing tensions there.
Austin addressed the conference about our nation’s concerns on how China’s military has been saber rattling—as recently as Tuesday, an incident with a Chinese fighter jet acting “unnecessarily aggressive” towards a U.S. reconaissance plane happened over the South China Sea.
Almost as if to highlight the purpose of the security meetings, another aggressive move came from the Chinese military against American and Canadian military vessels on Saturday.
The Chinese warship “picked up considerable speed and cut in front of the bow of the Chung-Hoon, a maneuver HMCS Montreal’s commander, Capt. Paul Mountford, called ‘not professional,’” according to the Global News report on the incident.
But rather than acknowledge their role in the incident, China is now accusing the U.S. of provoking the situation.
China’s defense minister on Sunday accused the United States and its allies of trying to destabilize the Indo-Pacific – just hours after warships from the two countries were involved in a near collision.
In a combative speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore, Li Shangfu accused the US of “provoking bloc confrontation for self-interest” and said Washington and its allies were making up rules to assert dominance over the region.
He also warned that any “severe confrontation” between the US and China would be “an unbearable disaster for the world.”
In addition to laying the blame at the feet of the U.S., Li shared some pointed “advice.”
“Mind your own business, take care of your own territorial space & waters & in that case, no problems in the future.”
The blame-shifting and admonishments come as tensions between China and the U.S. continue to mount. A recent close call in the skies above the South China Sea forced a U.S. aircraft to fly through rough turbulence after a Chinese fighter jet flew right in front of its nose.
A Chinese fighter pilot recently performed an “unnecessarily aggressive maneuver” of a US military reconnaissance plane, US Indo-Pacific Command said on Tuesday. It’s the latest incident of what Pentagon officials warn could lead to a major escalation.
The command said in a statement that a RC-135 aircraft was carrying out “safe and routine operations” in international airspace over the South China Sea on May 26 when a Chinese J-16 jet intercepted the American plane and cut in front of its nose, forcing it to fly directly through turbulence caused by the jet’s wake.
A video captured from the RC-135’s cockpit shows the Chinese fighter jet streak across the sky just ahead of the aircraft before it hits the turbulence. The cockpit then shakes around, and the jet disappears toward the horizon.
And, as we reported on Wednesday, there have been several encounters recently involving Chinese foreign nationals attempting to gain access to U.S. military facilities in Alaska.
Chinese citizens suspected of being spies have been attempting to gain access to military facilities in Alaska, according to US officials. Their aim appears to be to gather critical intelligence on our nation’s military.
Many of the encounters have been chalked up to innocent mistakes by foreign visitors intent on viewing the northern lights and other attractions in Alaska, officials say. Other attempts to enter U.S. military bases, however, seem to be probes to learn about U.S. military capabilities in Alaska, according to multiple soldiers familiar with the incidents but who were not authorized to speak publicly about them.
While Li’s characterization of the warship encounter doesn’t jibe with the video and witness descriptions, one thing he said rings completely true: A “severe confrontation” between the U.S. and China would be a disaster.