Global Times Accuses U.S. of Preparing for War on China

Sept. 29, 2020 (EIRNS)—Global Times posted an exceptionally angry editorial today accusing the U.S. of preparing a drone attack on the islands that China claims in the South China Sea and on which it has built airfields and other facilities. “China will shoot down incoming U.S. warplanes, no matter whether they are unmanned or manned,” Global Times vowed.

“If those planes cause actual damage to Chinese islands and reefs, we will strike the platforms and bases from which those planes take off. The Nansha Islands have only a small number of defensive weapons. If they are attacked, those islands would henceforth need to be turned into a fully operational military base to counter any serious threat to them.”

The editorial was triggered by the coverage in Air Force Magazine, posted on Sept. 24, of a joint U.S. Air Force-Navy exercise off the coast of California, in which the Air Force’s MQ-9 Reaper drones were employed in a maritime role for the first time. The article was boldly illustrated with a photo of five members of the maintenance crew wearing a patch on their right shoulders showing a Reaper drone superimposed over a map of China colored in red. “This is an extremely arrogant provocation,” Global Times declared in its front page editorial. “According to reports, the last time the U.S. Air Force put a country on the patch was during the Vietnam War. Putting a map of China on patches, already a radical move, and publishing the picture, obviously the U.S. military wants to send a strong signal.”

The Global Times editorial had already been preceded by a Twitter posting by Editor-in-Chief Hu Xijin in which he maintained that “Based on information I learned, Trump government could take the risk to attack China’s islands in the South China Sea with MQ-9 Reaper drones to aid his reelection campaign. If it happens, the PLA will definitely fight back fiercely and let those who start the war pay a heavy price.”

“Washington is stepping up its war preparations against China, and drones, which have been involved in assassination and other attacks around the world, will also play a role. This is the strategic signal sent by the U.S. Air Force Magazine’s report on the MQ-9 Reaper drone,” Global Times said further in the editorial. “This is a move to further stir hostilities between Chinese and American societies and an extortion against China. The U.S. military is using the drones and patches to stimulate the imagination and create images of China and the U.S. going to war. It’s also a move to mobilize public opinion.”