Europe 1 with AFP 15:10 pm, June 04, 2023
After two incidents between Chinese and US forces, the US Department of Defense denounced the "increasingly risky" actions of the Chinese military in Asia. For its part, China accuses the United States and Canada of causing "unrest in the Taiwan Strait".The US Defense Department on Sunday denounced the "increasingly risky" actions of the Chinese military in Asia, after two incidents between the forces of the two countries in recent days. "We continue to be concerned about the increasingly risky and coercive activities of the People's Liberation Army in the region, including in recent days," said Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, who is attending a security conference in Singapore with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Mutual accusations between China and the US
The statements come after two incidents involving US and Chinese armed forces in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea over the past ten days. The U.S. Navy on Saturday accused a Chinese ship of zigzagging "dangerously" around one of its destroyers that was sailing through the Taiwan Strait in company with a Canadian vessel.
China did not mention the incident but accused the United States and Canada of "intentionally causing trouble in the Taiwan Strait," over which it claims sovereign rights.
Washington also accused a Chinese fighter jet pilot of carrying out "an unjustified aggressive maneuver" near a US reconnaissance aircraft flying over the South China Sea on May 26. Beijing accused the US plane of "deliberately bursting in" into a China training area "to carry out reconnaissance (operations)".