US cooks up mistrust by accusing China of missing maritime meeting
The US should rethink the reason why China didn’t appear at a meeting based on the ChinaUS Military Maritime Consultative Agreement ( MMCA) rather than rudely accuse China of not honoring agreements, said Chinese military and diplomatic experts, after the US commander of the Indo- Pacific Command criticized China for missing the meeting on Wednesday.
Admiral Phil Davidson said in a statement on Wednesday that this was “another example that China does not honor its agreements,” and “This should serve as a reminder to all nations as they pursue agreements with China going forward,” according to Reuters.
Senior Colonel Liu Wensheng, spokesperson of the Chinese navy, said in a statement in response to the US statement that “the accusation from the US has totally confused right and wrong. The reason why the meeting can’t be held in time is that the US has failed to implement the agreement reached by both sides. The US should take full responsibility.”
On November 18, China sent suggestions on the meeting agenda to the US, but the US has insisted on its unilateral agenda to arbitrarily shorten the meeting time, and tried to change the nature of the meeting, and even intended to force China to attend without agreement on agenda setting, Liu said.
The two militaries were expected to participate in December 14- 16 meetings related to the MMCA focused on maritime safety, and the two sides have had MMCA dialogues since 1998.
A military expert who asked for anonymity told the Global Times on Thursday that the Trump administration is launching all- out offensives against China in the field of public opinion, so it will make use of all opportunities to accuse, smear and isolate China and add more difficulties for the next administration to repair ties and legitimize its hostile policy toward China.
Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Thursday that the US is trying to hype the issue and send a signal to its allies in the region – don’t trust China.
“The US is intentionally stigmatizing China’s sincerity for communication to cook up mistrust between China and regional countries. But China and the regional countries’ military forces have a communication mechanism and the mutual trust has been established, and it won’t be affected by the US’ stigmatization,” Li said.