Pentagon disinvites China from major naval exercise

Washington — The Pentagon disinvited China from participating in a major naval exercise on Wednesday, signaling mounting U.S. anger over Beijing’s expanded military footprint in disputed areas of the South China Sea.

Lt. Col. Christopher Logan, a Pentagon spokesman, said the Defense Department had withdrawn an earlier invitation to the Chinese navy to participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) drill, a biennial naval exercise that involves more than two dozen nations, over Beijing’s decision to place anti-ship missiles, surface-toair missiles and electronic jammers on the Spratly Islands.

Those islands, which China has enlarged and occupied in recent years, are subject to competing claims from several countries, including Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

“We believe these recent deployments and the continued militarization of these features is a violation of the promise that President Xi [Jinping] made to the United States and the world,” Logan said in a statement.

The Pentagon said that China has also landed bomber aircraft, apparently including the advanced, nuclear-capable H-6K, at Woody Island, in another disputed area to the north claimed by China and Vietnam.

The decision to exclude China from the exercise is likely to intensify tensions with a country the Pentagon has identified, along with Russia, as a chief rival to American military power and a focus of planning.

While the U.S. and Chinese militaries coordinate in some areas, the United States has expressed concern about China’s growing arsenal of sophisticated weapons and its attempt to project its might across Asia and beyond.

While the Trump administration does not back any of the rival claims to the islands and smaller features, it has insisted on freedom of navigation and challenged Chinese assertions of sovereignty over virtually all the South China Sea, which U.S. allies in the region see as key to their economic interests and security.

Patrick Cronin, an Asia scholar at the Center for a New American Security, said the move was a “welcome slap” on the wrist in response to China’s buildup in contested waters and its decision to largely ignore a 2016 ruling challenging its maritime claims.

“China’s militarization of the South China Sea deserves to be penalized, not rewarded,” he said.