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US stirring up animosity among China’s neighbors: Analyst

Friday, 19 February 2016 5:31 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 19 February 2016 5:32 PM ]

“I don’t see how the stationing of missiles by China, especially defensive missiles in anyway threatens the US or its allies in the region,” Professor James Petras says.

The United States is using the alleged Chinese deployment of defensive missiles on an island in the South China Sea to stir up animosity among China’s neighbors, an American scholar of international relations says.

Professor James Petras, who has written dozens of books on the Latin America and Middle East, made the remarks in a phone interview with Press TV on Friday when asked to comment on US claims that China has deployed surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island in the Paracel island chain.

US State Department spokesman John Kirby claimed on Thursday that satellite imagery showed "very recent" placement of missiles on the island and accused Beijing of militarizing the South China Sea.

"The Chinese have said one thing, and yet appear to be doing another," Kirby told reporters in Washington, DC. "We see no indication that ... this militarization effort, has stopped. And it's doing nothing ... to make the situation there more stable and more secure. In fact, it's having quite the opposite effect.

Professor Petras said “I don’t see how the stationing of missiles by China, especially defensive missiles in anyway threatens the US or its allies in the region.”

“I think the US is simply using this issue to simply stir up an animosity among China’s neighbors. I think the best thing for the US to do is to work out a defense agreement taking China into account, and looking forward to limiting the fallout from these hostilities,” he added.

“What we need now is less military posturing and greater trade, particularly as the world market has suffered some severe setback in the recent times. What do you need is less military saber-rattling and a greater degree of economic cooperation,” the analyst noted.

China claims sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.

Washington has sided with China’s rivals in the territorial dispute, with Beijing accusing the US of meddling in the regional issues and deliberately stirring up tensions in the South China Sea.

Earlier this week, US President Barack Obama hosted leaders from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at a summit which was aimed to counter what Washington calls China's increasingly assertiveness in the South China Sea.

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