Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu accused the United States and its allies of taking steps to destabilize the Indo-Pacific.
Li’s speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue summit came hours after the incident when two US and Chinese warships came close enough to collide.
Saying that Washington is provoking a large-scale conflict for its own interests, Li said a possible conflict between the US and China would be “an unbearable disaster for the world”.
Hours before Li’s speech, the US Indo-Pacific Command announced that a Chinese warship had intercepted a US warship, the USS Chung-Hoon, taking part in the exercise in the Taiwan Strait.
In the statement, it was stated that the Chinese ship came within 150 meters of the USS Chung-Hoon and forced the ship to slow down.
Stating that the presence of the US navy in the region is an example of Washington’s efforts to create chaos, Li said, “They are not here for an innocent transition, they are here for provocation.”
Stating that foreign powers that do not want conflict should not send their military units near China, Li said, “Mind your own business. Why are all these events happening in regions near China, not in another country?” he said.
The moments of convergence of the US and Chinese ships were captured by the Canadian Global News channel on the deck of the Canadian ship HMCS Montreal, which was advancing with the USS Chung-Hoon.
The commander of the Montreal ship, Captain Paul Mountford, said that the Chinese ship did not behave professionally, while a senior US defense official said, “The dangerous behavior we have seen from the Chinese army around the strait and in the South and East China Seas tells everything.”
The opinions expressed herein are the author’s and not necessarily those of News2Sea.
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