US Sends 'Small Armada' to Confront China as Beijing Accuses Washington of 'Containment'
The US is stirring up trouble in the South China Sea
Matthew Allen Sat, Mar 5 2016 | 530 words 4,949 Comments
Obama's so-called "pivot to Asia" has always meant one thing and one thing only: Provoking China and threatening its sphere of influence.
And luckily for Obama, the US has perfected the art of military provocation. It's now been confirmed that the US Navy has sent a "small armada" consisting of "the carrier John C. Stennis, two destroyers, two cruisers and the 7th Fleet flagship" to the South China Sea in order to "confront" China.
Join the Navy, confront China.
Some might wonder why China needs to be "confronted" in the South China Sea. As usual, it has nothing to to with "democracy promotion" and everything to do with economic control of the region:
The arrival of group led by the carrier USS John C. Stennis is seen as the latest signal to China that the US will continue to enforce freedom of navigation in the waters through which about US$5 trillion ($7.4 trillion) of trade is shipped each year.
But China is not preventing freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. So how does Washington justify deploying a carrier strike group to the area? It's all China's fault, of course:
The stand-off has been heating up on both sides. After news in February that the Chinese deployed an advanced surface-to-air missile battery to the Paracel Islands, U.S. Pacific Command head Adm. Harry Harris told lawmakers that China was militarizing the South China Sea.
"In my opinion China is clearly militarizing the South China Sea," Harris testified on Feb. 24. "You'd have to believe in a flat Earth to believe otherwise."
China has repeatedly warned the US against provoking needless conflict in the South China Sea. Earlier this week, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman reiterated Beijing's concerns:
Spokesperson Hong Lei made the remarks when responding to reports that U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Tuesday said in a speech in San Francisco that China must not pursue militarization in the South China Sea, and he warned China against "aggressive" actions in the region.
China's deployment of limited and necessary national defense facilities in its own territory is far from new, Hong said, adding that China's exercise of self-preservation and defense is a right granted by international law to sovereign states.
The United States has continued to increase its military presence in the South China Sea for a long time, Hong said, noting that the U.S. side also carries out highly targeted military drills in the region and has sent military vessels and planes into China's territory without authorization to conduct close surveillance.
"What the United States has done has intensified tensions and is most likely to cause militarization in the South China Sea," Hong said.
Beijing has also stressed that "China is firm in its determination and resolve to maintain its territorial sovereignty and maritime interests."
Territorial sovereignty -- not something that the US is too keen on.
But China sees what's coming. According to the Economic Times, Beijing is well aware of Washington's true intentions:
The South China Sea issue "shall not be turned into an excuse or a tool by certain country to contain China's development," [said] Wang Guoqing, spokesperson National Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC)
Now that the war in Syria is winding down, it's time to take on China, apparently. Marvelous. What could possibly go wrong?
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