News / Interviews

US seeks to contain China in its rise: Analyst

Thursday, 28 January 2016 6:52 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 28 January 2016 10:30 AM ]

US Secretary of State John Kerry walks past US and Chinese national flags during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (seen) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, January 27, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Press TV has conducted an interview with William Jones, a member of the Executive Intelligence Review, and Brent Budowsky, a columnist of The Hill, to discuss the rising tensions between the United States and China over the disputed areas of the South China Sea.

Jones says US flights over the South China Sea have created a sense that Washington’s policy is one of “containing China in its rise.”

He says the United States has been “like a bull in a china shop” in these disputed waters, adding that it has caused a lot of havoc by what it calls “re-balancing.”

“Many of the countries that were willing to discuss with China… the issue of borders have felt they are being backed up by the United States; therefore, they are going to play hardball with the US over these issues,” he says.

Jones further argues that there is no “conscious effort” on either side to engage in military action; he says, however, that US flights over the disputed areas can cause accidents that can lead to war.

“Wars often happen by accident and you can predict or you could forecast that it is developing if you look at the overall geometry of the political situation that is developing and I think we are seeing much of that happening in terms of US-China relations,” he says.

The analyst concludes by saying that China has been very deft in diplomacy in its neighborhood and also in the world, whereas the United States has been engaged in continual wars and has tried to break up the Middle East.

Budowsky, for his part, says the South China Sea waters are “international” not “Chinese” and the United States has the right to send its gunboats or warships over there.

He also says, “It is not just the United States versus China on the issues involving the South China Sea but most countries in Asia think that China has gone overboard and made some bad moves” in this regard.

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