China disinvited from US military exercise over South China Sea
The United States has disinvited China from a US-hosted naval drill over alleged militarization of the South China Sea.
The Pentagon said Wednesday that it had made the decision in the wake of “strong evidence” that Beijing had deployed anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missile systems and electronic jammers to the Spratly Islands, claimed by several nations.
“As an initial response to China’s continued militarization of the South China Sea we have disinvited the PLA Navy from the 2018 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise,” said Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman.
China’s air force bombers landed on the disputed islands as part of the country’s war games in the region over the weekend.
The disinvitation irked China, which argued that landing the bombers is merely defensive and in “much smaller scale” than what the United States had done in Hawaii and Guam.
“We find that a very unconstructive move,” Chinese State Councilor Wang Yi told reporters in Washington after a meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. “We hope that the US will change such a negative mindset.”
His comments followed Logan’s argument that Beijing destabilizes the region.
“China’s continued militarization of disputed features in the South China Sea only serves to raise tensions and destabilize the region,” said the Pentagon spokesman. “China’s behavior is inconsistent with the principles and purposes of the Rim of the Pacific exercises.”
The US has stepped up its military presence in the South China Sea under the pretext of freedom of navigation operations in international waters.
Beijing has on numerous occasions stressed that its military drills in the South China Sea are part of routine military training.
China’s island-building in the South China Sea has drawn criticism from the US, which accuses Beijing of undertaking a land reclamation program to build artificial islands to be used as military bases.
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