US attempting to project naval power into South China Sea: Pundit

The United States is engaged in a “vainglorious attempt” to project its naval power into the South China Sea, but Beijing will not fall into Washington’s trap, an American political pundit says.

On Tuesday, the US Navy sent its USS Lassen, a guided-missile destroyer, within 12 nautical miles of one of China's artificial islands in the South China Sea, a move apparently designed to increase tensions with Beijing.

“These actions, which were conducted with the expressed approval of President Obama, are a display of intemperate oneupmanship by the US Navy and a vainglorious attempt to project US power into the South China Sea,” said Dennis Etler, a professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California.

“While the US acts like an impetuous adolescent, goading China to a fight, China is playing the role of the mature adult in this misadventure, willing to let the transgression go with a simple admonition,” he told Press TV on Tuesday.

“The US thinks that it has to puff out its chest and strut around like a crowing rooster in order to maintain a semblance of credibility, particularly after its embarrassment in Syria in which its double dealing has been thoroughly exposed by Russia's decisive support for the embattled government of Bashar al-Assad,” the analyst stated.

“The US feels it's necessary to assert itself somewhere else in the world where it is safe to do so, and the South China Sea serves that purpose well,” he added.   

“China will not fall into this trap. The incursion, if that is what is was, was symbolic and has no geopolitical or military significance,” he noted.

“It was done merely for show in order to demonstrate US ‘resolve’. What matters however are the facts on the ground not some one-off ‘principled stand,’” he pointed out.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the "relevant authorities" monitored, followed and warned the US warship as it "illegally" entered waters near islands and reefs in the Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea.

"China will resolutely respond to any country's deliberate provocations," the ministry said.

Later on, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters that if Washington continued to "create tensions in the region," Beijing might "increase and strengthen the building up of our relevant abilities."

Etler said that “the US is talking brashly and carrying a small stick. China will merely tell the US to behave and continue to consolidate its position in an area it claims as its own.”

“The US is basically sticking its tongue out and thumbing its nose at China. If the US decides to escalate tensions by repeated incursions it will show the world that it is itching for a fight that it is ill prepared to engage in,” he said.

“The more likely scenario is that the US will proclaim ‘victory,’ in that it has protected what it considers its right to freedom of navigation, which has never been challenged or jeopardized by any Chinese actions,” he observed

“No one however is really being fooled by US bluster and brinkmanship. US actions amount to nothing more than a tempest in a teapot,” the pundit concluded.

Washington accuses Beijing of undergoing a massive “land reclamation” program in the Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea, and says China’s territorial claims of the man-made islands could further militarize the region.

The United States says its surveillance of China’s artificial islands indicates that Beijing has positioned weaponry on one of the islands it has built in the South China Sea.

China accuses the United States of meddling in the regional issues and deliberately stirring up tensions in the South China Sea.

Beijing says it is determined to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity in the South China Sea.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk