FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

---

China’s Strong Response to U.S. Provocations

Jan. 22, 2018 (EIRNS)—China’s Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry both issued strong objections to the violation of the 12-nautical-mile limit of Huangyan Island in the South China Sea by the missile destroyer USS Hopper, Global Times reported yesterday in an unsigned editorial. Global Times is published under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper. Global Times sets out the evidence of growing U.S. alarm about China’s rise: 1) the U.S. National Security Strategy called China a “rival”; 2) the Pentagon gave more importance to competition with China and Russia than the fight against terrorism in its Jan. 19 National Defense Strategy, and 3) U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the U.S. “mistakenly” supported China’s WTO membership in 2001. Global Times goes on, that the U.S. “needs to reckon with the returns and losses and take a high-stake move to turn its diplomacy with China from a controllable process into a gamble.  

“Neither China nor the U.S. will win if they enter into a Cold War. Those who advocate it, underestimate its repercussions on the U.S., which is unprepared for the risks and pain required to ‘Make America Great Again."...

“China’s pursuit of a win for all is not understandable to all Westerners, and may even be taken by some Americans as a scheme to evade U.S. containment. We should just let it be in terms of ties with the U.S.

“With fewer cards, the U.S. finds it difficult to confront China, and sending a naval vessel in the South China Sea is something easier.”

China can handle it, the editorial continues, and

“the U.S. is doomed to fail in this respect.... China is able to send more military vessels as a response and can take steps like militarizing islands. This can by no means bring honor to the Trump administration.”