China ” will crush “Any foreign incursion that violates its sovereignty, including in the South China Sea,” a senior Chinese military official said Thursday, September 12, on the sidelines of a security forum in Beijing. Beijing is seeking to strengthen military communication with Washington on thorny issues such as the South China Sea at a security forum in the Chinese capital, but experts expect tensions to persist.
With our correspondent in Beijing, Clea Broadhurst
This is not the first time that Beijing has asserted its authority over the South China Sea territories. At the Xiangshan Forum, a military diplomacy event in Beijing, Lt. Gen. He Lei of the People’s Liberation Army did not hesitate to point the finger at the United States.
« I think first of all it is a tactic of forming alliances and creating confrontations to promote their Asia-Pacific strategy, or rather the Indo-Pacific strategy. ” he said.
Previously, the United States pushed ” some countries in the front line to serve as pawns, but today they are forced to place themselves in the spotlight, openly occupying the front of the stage ” he added.
« Violation of maritime rights »
A US military official has warned his Chinese counterpart against any ” dangerous, coercive and potentially escalatory tactics ” from Beijing. Lieutenant General He Lei, on the contrary, believed that the resolution of current tensions on this subject ” depends on the United States ».
- RFI