China’s “Muscular” Policy Will Impact Its Ties With India, Others: US Diplomat

Washington: China’s new “muscular” policy will have an impact on its ties with India and other nations, a senior US diplomat has said, underlining that the world is finally recognising that Beijing is “pushing” a form of “problematic” governance.
The US is currently involved in a tense showdown with China on the issue of trade, the origins of the novel coronavirus pandemic, Beijing’s new security crackdown in Hong Kong and the communist nation’s aggressive military moves in the disputed South China Sea.

The actions China is taking “are going to have impact, and not just in – across the Straits”, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday.

“It’s going to have impact in Southeast Asia, it’s going to have impact with its neighbour India, and others. This newly muscular and aggressive approach is going to make the defence minister’s job a lot harder,” he said.

Mr Stiwell was responding to a question on the statement made by the Chinese Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe over the weekend that the China-US strategic confrontation has entered “a period of high risk” and “we must strengthen our fighting spirit… and use fighting to promote stability”.

Mr Fenghe’s remarks came amid rising tensions between China and the US, and souring ties between Beijing and Taipei.

China views Taiwan as a rebel province that must be reunified with the mainland, even by force. China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam claim parts of it.

Mr Stilwell said the world is finally recognising that China is “pushing” a form of government that “many only now are beginning to recognise as problematic”.

“This most recent step from the National People’s Congress in walking away from its obligations with respect to Hong Kong only demonstrates that more clearly,” he said.

China on Friday last introduced the draft of a controversial national security law in Hong Kong in its Parliament to tighten Beijing’s control over the former British colony, in what could be the biggest blow to the territory’s autonomy and personal freedoms since 1997 when it came under Chinese rule.