International
SOUTH CHINA SEA: Stop ‘flexing muscles’ over waterway, China warns US
The Chinese government China has warned the United States to stop flexing its muscles in the South China Sea to avoid adding “new uncertainties” over Taiwan in the latest spat between the two world’s major powers.
China issued the warning to the US on Sunday during high-level talks that highlighted the growing tension between the two countries after Beijing claimed nearly all of the disputed sea where it has built military installations on artificial islands.
The remarks by Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe to US Defense Secretary Mark Esper, recounted by a Chinese spokesman, came just two weeks after a top White House official denounced Chinese “intimidation” in the crucial waterway.
READ ALSO: DR Congo’s rebels kill 15 during overnight attack
During closed-door talks on the sidelines of a gathering of defence ministers in Bangkok, Wei urged Esper to “stop flexing muscles in the South China Sea and to not provoke and escalate tensions in the South China Sea,” the spokesman Wu Qian said.
The US is accusing China of marshalling its military to convene in the South China Sea and trying to intimidate Asian neighbours in its bid to claim the energy-rich waters which Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims to parts of the waterway.
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...
SPECIAL REPORT: Torturous experiences of students with disabilities in Oyo tertiary institutions
For students with disabilities in Oyo state-owned tertiary institutions, learning is a torturous and distressing experience, considering the building structures...