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US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis began a one week trip to Southeast Asia on Sunday, days after the Pentagon released a new defense strategy which reflected a renewed focus on China.
The National Defense Strategy, released on Friday, emphasizes a return to “great power competition” between the United States, China and Russia.
“What we’re looking for is a world where we solve problems and we don’t shred trust, we don’t militarize features in the middle of international waters, we don’t invade other countries, in Russia’s case,” Mattis was quoted by Voice of America as saying on his flight to Jakarta.
Washington’s top military official added that his visits to Indonesia and Vietnam show that “we respect these countries and we respect their sovereign decisions.”
“What we want out here [is] … a peaceful, prosperous, and free Asia, with a free and open regional order defined by the rule of law,” he added.
As a claimant to territory disputed with China, Vietnam has been outspoken in criticism of recent Chinese actions in the region. Indonesia, meanwhile, does not consider itself a claimant nation, but has renamed a portion of the South China Sea in defiance of Beijing.
In response to the National Defense Plan released Friday, China’s Foreign Ministry suggested the US was the true aggressor in the eyes of the international community.
“Who is really selectively using or ignoring international norms? Who is interfering in the domestic politics of other countries, even using the threat of military force?,” ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying asked.
“Believe that the people of every country in the world see this very clearly, have their own public opinion,” she added.
slt vous fait sur commenter oui merci
“Who is really selectively using or ignoring international norms? Who is interfering in the domestic politics of other countries, even using the threat of military force?”
Not questions I would ask too loudly if I were Hua Chunying. Has she dipped into the People’s Daily lately?
Come now, Derek, how can you expect people to take you seriously if you make out that "most white people" are liars, hypocrites and racists? That is itself a grossly racist statement. On top of that, you call Gen. Mattis "Mathison", nor can you even spell "embarrassment" despite having a spell checker on your computer. I feel like your primary school teacher even writing this!
The term "international norms" is so vague that it can’t really be used in any way other than as propaganda. Plus, to the extent that they do exist, they are simply terrifying when applied to the U.S. They think little of invading other countries, and obviously don’t care about actually having a legitimate reason for doing so (i.e. Vietnam’s Gulf of Tonkin Incident or Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction). Compare this behavior with China, who last had a military conflict in 1979 when they were attempting to prevent Vietnam from invading Cambodia, and there is no distinction between which regime is more dangerous to the international community. Within this context, the "threats" of military force are actually not really threats, but that’s likely what she meant.
Jason Jean Well, that’s quite clear. Especially the last sentence!