It would be wrong for Washington to consider China’s tolerance of its provocations as a sign of weakness. This would be dangerous. Washington should know by now that China will never give an inch when it comes to its territory.
As China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Wednesday, China will not be intimidated no matter how many warships or bombers the United States sends to the South China Sea.
She was speaking on Wednesday after the US air force confirmed that two B52 bombers conducted exercises near China’s Nansha Islands, and Washington is reportedly considering sending an aircraft carrier battle group through the Taiwan Straits.
These are just the latest provocative moves of the US. They join a long list, including the so-called freedom of navigation operations by its warships in the vicinity of or even within China’s territorial waters in the South China Sea, its sales of weapons to Taiwan, its new “Taiwan Travel Act”, and its officials’ or military officers’ rhetoric about a “China threat”.