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Scary: A US-China War Is Inevitable If THIS Happens, According To Chinese Source
The United States and China appear to be on a collision course, leading to “inevitable” military conflict regarding the future of the South China Sea.
In a white paper released on Tuesday, the People’s Republic listed some major policy shifts, including its intention to project its naval and air forces on a more global scale from their traditional mission of protecting territorial China.
Over the last several months, China has been rapidly building up its naval presence in the South China Sea, laying claim to disputed portions of the Spratly Islands off the coast of the Philippines. The islands fall near international shipping lanes, causing concern among the United States and other Pacific nations.
The fear is that China, after completing more construction, may impose sea and air restrictions in the Spratlys, in an area where $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes each year.
The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei have overlapping claims to the lands.
China’s construction on “Mischief Reef” is one of the areas that the United States has been closely monitoring through aircraft and satellite surveillance (pictured above). China has already built an airstrip that can service military aircraft on Fiery Cross Reef, also in the Spratlys.
Image Credit: Fiery Cross Reef/Janes Military
China made note of the surveillance in its white paper:
Some external countries are also busy meddling in South China Sea affairs; a tiny few maintain constant close-in air and sea surveillance and reconnaissance against China. It is thus a long-standing task for China to safeguard its maritime rights and interests.
The New York Times reports:
Bernard D. Cole, a professor at the National War College in Washington, said the strategy paper suggests that there is little chance that China will relinquish its territorial ambitions in the South China Sea, which is rich in oil, gas and fishing resources.
“I think China has been feeling pretty confident as it pushed ahead, trying to feel the threshold where the U.S. reaction would be,” Dr. Cole said. “We may be seeing that threshold now, but I see absolutely no evidence that China is going to stop its island construction.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Monday that China had lodged a complaint with the United States. “We urge the U.S. to correct its error, remain rational and stop all irresponsible words and deeds,” she said. “Freedom of navigation and overflight by no means mean that foreign countries’ warships and military aircraft can ignore the legitimate rights of other countries as well as the safety of aviation and navigation.”
Reuters reports that an editorial published in the Global Times, a tabloid owned by the ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily, called the US overflights “provocative” and saw war as “inevitable” unless the United States stopped demanding that Beijing halt building of the artificial islands.
Image Credit: The Telegraph
h/t: The Telegraph
This post originally appeared on Western Journalism – Equipping You With The Truth
Source: http://www.westernjournalism.com/scary-a-us-china-war-is-inevitable-if-this-happens-according-to-chinese-source/
