Editorials

American intimidation

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-17 06:36
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It is rare for the Foreign Ministry to vehemently oppose an event five times in less than a month. But that is exactly what it has done to the proposed naval exercise between the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK).

The magnitude of its displeasure shows that the joint US-ROK drill is nothing but saber rattling on China's doorsteps and a test of its patience.

The ministry's official reaction also reflects the public anger over such an open threat to China's security and interests. The Chinese media and netizens have been criticizing the drill ever since the US announced it a month ago.

Sources in the ROK Ministry of Defense confirmed to Xinhua on July 15 that the drill would start off ROK's east coast and then move on to the Yellow Sea, which is just a few hundred kilometers from China's eastern coast. A US media outlet cited American military sources as having said that nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington would take part in the Yellow Sea exercise.

The US-ROK anti-submarine exercise has been postponed several times because of strong opposition from other countries, including China. It is apparently meant to act as a deterrence to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Seoul and Washington accuse Pyongyang of torpedoing the ROK warship Cheonan, a charge the DPRK has dismissed as absurd.

Given the existing tension on the Korean Peninsula, the US should understand that joint drill will only complicate the situation further.

Apart from strongly opposing the drill China can take some countermeasures too. The Foreign Ministry may have ruled out the possibility of a joint China-DPRK military exercise, saying it reflected "a typical Cold War mindset". But that does not end China's options, especially because the economies of the world are closely interconnected in this age of globalization.

(China Daily 07/17/2010 page5)