The White House said on Monday that Chinese military exercises in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea reflect Beijing's increased hostilities, while the Chinese Foreign Ministry accused the United States of fomenting trouble.
"The escalation of the aggressiveness of the Chinese military increases the likelihood of a mistake that will eventually cause someone to be injured," the White House said.
The U.S. criticism came after the U.S. Navy on Saturday accused a Chinese ship of "unsafe" winding around a U.S. destroyer in the Taiwan Strait, less than 10 days after an air accident between the two countries in the same area.
On Sunday, the U.S. Navy released a video of a Chinese warship approaching a U.S. destroyer in the Taiwan Strait and crossing in front of it in a manner the U.S. Navy described as "unsafe."
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❗️🇺🇲🇨🇳⚓Global News: China ship nearly rammed US Navy destroyer in the Taiwan Strait
Chinese warship performed an abrupt turn & passed the American destroyer Chung-Hoon at a mere 130m away. The event led the Chung-Hoon crew to quickly slow down and alter their trajectory pic.twitter.com/D46XFiYl19
— OsintTV📺 (@OsintTV) June 4, 2023
The U.S. military said the U.S. destroyer Chung Hoon and Canadian frigate Montreal were making a "routine" crossing of the strait on Saturday when the Chinese ship blocked the destroyer 137 meters ahead.
The White House added that the U.S. military would continue to sail and fly in international waters and airspace, despite Chinese objections.
Communication Channels
Despite rising tensions between Beijing and Washington, Washington said it had made progress in opening more channels of communication with China.
Daniel Kreitenbrinc, assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, and Sarah Beran, director for China and Taiwan at the US National Security Council, held meetings on Monday with Chinese officials in the capital Beijing in the presence of US ambassador there Nicholas Burns, a State Department statement said.
The statement noted that the meetings took place with Machao Xu, executive vice minister of foreign affairs, and Yang Tao, director general for North American affairs at the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
The two sides held frank and productive talks "as part of ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication and build on high-level diplomacy between the two countries," the State Department said, and exchanged views on bilateral relations, Taiwan Strait issues, and communication channels.
Chinese criticism
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin accused the United States of stirring up trouble, referring to the interception of a Chinese warship destroying a U.S. in the Taiwan Strait.
The Chinese spokesman added that his country's handling of the incident was legal, and that the actions of the Chinese military were necessary to deal with what he described as a provocation.
On Sunday, Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu, speaking at the Shangri-La Security and Defence Dialogue forum in Singapore, warned against establishing NATO-like military alliances in the Asia-Pacific region.
Li called "attempts to push for NATO-like alliances in the Asia-Pacific region as a way to hijack regional countries and amplify conflicts and confrontations."
On the other hand, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin denied Beijing's accusations of his country seeking to establish an alliance in the Indo-Pacific region similar to NATO, and Austin added at a press conference with his Indian counterpart in New Delhi that his country is working with countries in the region that share the same ideas and values.