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The risk of a miscalculation between Western and Chinese warships in the South China Sea is the highest it has ever been, an expert has said.
With so many foreign navies sailing through what they see as international waters near China, the chance of Xi Jinping’s navy firing a misinterpreted warning shot is growing.
Meanwhile, China has for the first time fitted its fleet of nuclear-powered submarines with JL-3 missiles thought to have a range of up to 10,000km (6,200 miles) – enough to strike the US mainland from within its own waters.
Washington regards Beijing’s actions in the region as the “most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security”.
In its latest national defence strategy published in early November, the US department of defence criticised China’s “coercive and increasingly aggressive endeavour to refashion the Indo-Pacific region and the international system to suit its interests and authoritarian preferences”.
Beijing hit out at the report, saying that it “smears” China and vilifies normal military growth.
Ministry spokesperson Tan Kefei, as quoted in the South China Morning Post, said: “The countries that stubbornly prioritise their own interests above anyone else and gang up on an ‘integrated deterrence’ in the Asia Pacific are the real ‘pacing challenge’ to the international system and the region.”
