US Vice President criticizes China for strong-arming Vietnam in East Sea

Photo: Independent

In his remarks posted on the White House's website on October 24, US Vice President Mike Pence said China’s military action in the region and its approach to its neighbors over the past year has also remained increasingly provocative.

“While China’s leaders stood in the Rose Garden in 2015 and said that its country had, and I quote, “no intention to militarize” the South China Sea, Beijing has deployed advanced anti-ship and anti-air missiles atop an archipelago of military bases constructed on artificial islands.

And Beijing has stepped up its use of what they call “maritime militia” vessels to regularly menace Filipino and Malaysian sailors and fishermen. And the Chinese Coast Guard has tried to strong-arm Vietnam from drilling for oil and natural gas off of Vietnam’s own shores.

“In the East China Sea, in 2019, our close ally, Japan, is on track to scramble more fighter aircraft sorties in response to Chinese provocations than in any previous year in history. And China’s Coast Guard has sent ships for more than 60 days in a row into the waters around the Senkaku Islands, which are administered by Japan”, he said.

The US Vice President said that China is also using its “One Belt, One Road” Initiative to establish footholds in ports around the world, ostensibly for commercial purposes, but those purposes could eventually become military. “We see now the flag of Chinese ownership flying today in ports from Sri Lanka to Pakistan to Greece”, he added.

Mike Pence reiterated the US's allegations that earlier this year, Beijing had signed a secret agreement to establish a naval base in Cambodia. And it is reported that Beijing is even eyeing locations on the Atlantic Ocean that could serve as naval facilities.