Beijing furious over US exercises

Source The Australian

Tensions between China and the US are escalating after Washington-backed military exercises in Asian waters and territorial disputes. The disputes are between Beijing and Southeast Asian neighbors. China is furious at the prospect of further naval exercises between the US and South Korea in the Yellow Sea. Military maneuvers last month came as the US took sides with Vietnam, Malaysia and other countries in their long disputes with China over control of areas of the resource-rich South China Sea. "The US should refrain from provoking China through unnecessary military drills and respect its maritime concerns," former Rear Admiral Yang Yi wrote in yesterday's China Daily. "The recent decision by the United States to involve its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington in the scheduled joint naval drills with the Republic of Korea in the Yellow Sea will further compromise its security strategy in East Asia." Shi Yinhong, director of the American Study Center at Beijing's prestigious Renmin University, told The Weekend Australian: "The unprecedented military exercises at China's surrounding sea waters are strategic demonstrations and provocations towards China. "It forged great pressure on China and has destroyed the warmer relation formed since 2009."