Chinese Drill to Counter S.Korea-U.S. Exercise
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The Chinese military is staging a live fire exercise in the East China Sea to the east of Zhejiang Province late this month as a joint naval exercise by South Korea and the U.S. in the West Sea looms.
China's East Sea Fleet will stage the exercise from June 30 until July 5, the Wenzhou Wanbao newspaper reported Monday. It is an annual drill but the schedule has been moved up by 10 days from last year's July 10-15.
The point where the Chinese Navy plans to stage its annual exercise is some 700 km south of South Korea's Taean Peninsula and is believed to constitute a counterweight to the massive U.S. naval presence the joint drill will bring to China's doorstep.
In a notice on June 24, the Chinese military banned ordinary ships from traveling through those waters between midnight and 6 p.m. while the drill is being staged.
The Hong Kong Ming Pao daily hinted that the drill is being staged to counter the joint South Korea-U.S. exercise, saying, "It is rare for the Chinese military to issue advance notice of the exercise."
But Chen Hu, the editor of World Military Affairs, a magazine published by the official Xinhua news agency, told a semi-official Chinese media outlet that the drill is not just aimed at countering the joint South Korea-U.S. exercise. He said the drill, in which a large aircraft carrier fleet is participating, is a good training opportunity for the Chinese military and "will yield better results than in ordinary times."
The Chinese Foreign Ministry and state-run media have expressed opposition to the joint South Korea-U.S. exercise, which includes the 97,000 ton-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington, saying it creates "new tension" in Northeast Asia.
[email protected] / Jun. 29, 2010 08:15 KST
China Rebuffs Western Criticism Over N.Korea
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Qin Gang /AP China is rejecting Western criticism that it is not doing enough to condemn North Korea over the sinking of a South Korean navel vessel. China rebuked U.S. President Barack Obama's claim that it was willfully blind to the risks posed by North Korea.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Beijing felt the dangers of a divided Korean peninsula more acutely than Washington and other western powers.
Obama criticized China over the weekend at the G20 Summit in Canada for failing to take a tough stance toward Pyongyang. He claimed the Chinese had failed to condemn its close ally North Korea over the March sinking of a South Korean naval ship, the Cheonan, in which 46 sailors were killed. Obama said he hoped Chinese President Hu Jintao would recognize that North Korea crossed a line in the sinking of the ship.
Qin said China has a deeper understanding of what he described as the fragile situation on the Korean Peninsula. "China is a close neighbor of the Korean Peninsula and over this issue, our feelings must be completely different to those countries far away from this region. We have more direct and more serious concerns over this." Qin said conflict on the Korean peninsula would suit neither side. He said China's position was what he described as beyond reproach.
North Korea depends on Beijing to prop up its struggling economy through aid and trade. It has been widely reported that Beijing fears any conflict or collapse of the Pyongyang government would result in a flood of refugees across its border.
An international investigation found that a North Korea submarine fired the torpedo that sank the Cheonan. Pyongyang denies involvement. Obama is leading the charge for Pyongyang to be punished for the sinking. It was reported he had a frank exchange about the issues with Hu at the G20 Summit in Canada.
VOA News / Jun. 30, 2010 07:36 KST
Keep U.S. Aircraft Carrier Out of Our Backyard, China Warns
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A state-run Chinese newspaper on Tuesday criticized the South Korean government for allowing the 97,000-ton aircraft carrier George Washington of the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet to join South Korea-U.S. military training scheduled late this month.
In an editorial, Global News wrote the West Sea "is in proximity to China's political hub of Beijing and Tianjin. If a U.S. aircraft carrier comes into the West Sea, mainland China falls under the military strategic influence of U.S. military forces. The people of China will not accept South Korea having military demonstration involving a U.S. aircraft carrier."
It added U.S. forces appear to regard China "as their largest potential enemy, exposing a lack of strategic mutual trust between the U.S. and China. If South Korea wants to develop trust with China, it will have to consider the sentiments of the people of China."
The paper warned Seoul "will have difficulty taking any kind of step forward on issues concerning the whole Korean Peninsula without China's understanding and cooperation." What South Korea needs to do now is not to put pressure on China by frequently involving the U.S. and escalating tensions in Northeast Asia but seek ways to alleviate tensions in the peninsula, it added.
[email protected] / Jun. 09, 2010 12:19 KST
