Threat claims of China’s missile launch ‘groundless’

Source: Global Times Published: 2020/8/28 20:03:40

The guided-missile frigates Meizhou (Hull 584) and Liu Panshui (Hull 514) attached to a frigate flotilla with the navy under the PLA Southern Theater Command steam in line astern formation during a maritime realistic training exercise in waters of the South China Sea on July 13, 2020.File photo:China Military



 
China's Foreign Ministry slammed the US as a "troublemaker" in the South China Sea, and said US' accusations that China fired missiles into the South China Sea which threatened regional peace are groundless and unreasonable. 

The spokesperson of China's Foreign Ministry, Zhao Lijian, said during a media briefing on Friday that China's training activities near the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea are routine arrangements conducted by the Chinese military off China's coast. The activities were not targeted at any country and have nothing to do with the disputes in the South China Sea.

The US Department of Defense said on Thursday that they were concerned about Chinese military exercises, including the "firing of ballistic missiles." The department said that "conducting military exercises over disputed territory in the South China Sea is counterproductive to easing tensions and maintaining stability."

Zhao, however, said these accusations are groundless and unreasonable. 

He pointed out that the US has shown its own military strength by engaging in military provocations through the sending of warships, fighter jets and reconnaissance aircraft to the South China Sea on a large scale, actions which undermine China's sovereignty and security interests.

"The international community can see that the US is a destroyer and troublemaker of peace and stability in the South China Sea," Zhao said, adding that the US should stop stirring up trouble and sowing discord in the South China Sea and instead try to play a constructive role in maintaining regional peace and stability.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) on Thursday expelled a US warship that trespassed into China's territorial waters in the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea, nearby an ongoing Chinese military exercise zone that reportedly featured live-fire anti-ship ballistic missile launches.

The USS Mustin, a US Navy guided missile destroyer, trespassed into China's territorial waters in the Xisha Islands on Thursday, and the PLA Southern Theater Command dispatched naval and air forces to track, identify and warn it to leave immediately, said Senior Colonel Li Huamin, a spokesperson for the PLA Southern Theater Command, said early Friday morning.

China has undisputable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and their adjacent waters in the region, and command troops are always on high alert to resolutely protect the country's national sovereignty and safeguard peace and stability in the region of the South China Sea, Li said.

Global Times



Posted in: DIPLOMACY

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