ISLAMABAD: Military tensions between China and the United States have yet to see an immediate de-escalation after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to China, with both nations’ warships and warplanes, including aircraft carriers, seen operating in sensitive waters in the South China Sea and Taiwan Straits over the past few days.
If the United States really wants to control risks of accidents or seek negotiations, it should stop abondon the poliy of saying one thing and doing another, as well as making military provocations around China, experts said, according to Global Times.
On Wednesday, US Coast Guard cutter vessel USCGC Stratton made a transit in the Taiwan Straits, a measure that was closely tracked and monitored by boats of the China Coast Guard, its spokesperson Gan Yu said.
The same day, the defense authority in Taiwan said it saw the PLA Navy’s Shandong aircraft carrier group when it was sailing through the Taiwan Straits in a southwesterly direction into the South China Sea.
US military activities
A number of US spy jets, including an EP-3E electronic reconnaissance aircraft, a P-8A maritime patrol aircraft, an RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft and a suspected drone, were spotted in the South China Sea at the southern end of the Taiwan Straits.
In late May, when the aircraft carrier Shandong sailed through the Taiwan Straits in a northeasterly direction, a US RC-135 spy aircraft intentionally intruded into the training area of PLA carrier group.
Blinken wrapped up a two-day trip to Beijing on 19 June, in which the two sides agreed to stabilize their ties and keep communication lines open. However, the US aircraft carrier, cutter and spy jet activities on China’s doorsteps showed the military tensions between the two nations remained for the time being.
