Invitation withdrawn
US excludes China from Pacific naval drills
— The Pentagon has pulled its invitation for China to join maritime exercises in the Pacific because of Beijing’s “continued militarization” of the South China Sea, an official said Wednesday, in the latest sign of U.S.-China strains.
China hit back at the decision, calling it “very non-constructive” and saying it was taken without due reflection.
Personnel from more than two dozen countries train together and work on seamanship across the vast region for the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise organized by the U.S. Navy.
But the United States now says China’s behavior in the South China Sea runs counter to the spirit of the drills.
“China’s continued militarization of disputed features in the South China Sea only serves to raise tensions and destabilize the region,” Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Chris Logan said.
“We have disinvited the PLA Navy from the 2018 Rim of the Pacific Exercise.
China’s behavior is inconsistent with the principles and purposes of the RIMPAC exercise.”
China’s Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi said the U.S. decision to exclude it from RIMPAC was “very non-constructive.”
“It’s also a decision taken lightly and is unhelpful to mutual understanding between China and the U.S.,” Wang said at a press confer- ence with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after the two met in Washington.
Pompeo did not comment on the matter, saying only that the pair had had a “good discussion” about American concerns of militarization of the South China Sea.
China has deployed anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems and electronic jammers to “contested features” in the Spratly Islands region of the South China Sea, Logan said.
“While China has maintained that the construction of the islands is to ensure safety at sea, navigation assistance, search and rescue, fisheries protection and other non-military functions, the placement of these weapon systems is only for military use,” Logan said, noting that the landing of a Chinese bomber on Woody Island had only exacerbated strains.
The decision to pull China’s invitation comes amid new tensions between Beijing and Washington.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he was not satisfied with talks aimed at averting a trade war with China.
And on Tuesday, he suggested that Chinese President Xi Jinping might have played a role in North Korea’s recent threats to withdraw from a planned summit with the U.S.
China claims most of the South China Sea, believed to hold vast oil and gas deposits and through which $5 trillion in trade passes annually. It has built up islands and military installations across the region.
Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims in the sea.
The U.S. Navy periodically conducts “freedom of navigation” operations in which naval vessels sail close to the Chinese-claimed militarized islets.
Logan said the Pentagon had urged China to remove its military installations “immediately” and to “reverse course” on its militarization of the sea.