Saturday, 30 January 2021_The US military has protested to Chinese military activities in the South China Sea as leading policy outlet Politico says the new Biden government is reorienting foreign policy priorities to China and Asia from the Middle East.
The US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) said in a statement on Friday that Chinese military flights in the South China Sea over the past week fit a pattern of destabilizing and aggressive behavior by Beijing.
"The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group closely monitored all People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and Air Force (PLAAF) activity, and at no time did they pose a threat to US Navy ships, aircraft, or Sailors," INDOPACOM spokesperson Navy Capt. Mike Kafka said.
Such actions, he said, reflected a China’s attempt to use its military as a “tool to intimidate or coerce” those operating in international waters and airspace.
The INDOPACOM spokesperson also said the United States would continue to fly, sail and operate in the South China Sea.
“The US has a persistent military presence and routinely operates throughout the Indo-Pacific, including the waters and airspace surrounding the South China Sea and East China Sea, just as we have approached the region for the past 240 years,” he said.
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