China's Global Times — the communist country's hawkish, belligerent state tabloid — has responded to the Pentagon's Friday announcement stating the US is looking to deploy intermediate range ballistic missiles to Asia "within months," warning "it will certainly trigger an intense arms race in the region."
Its editorial board, long understood as a mouthpiece of the state, has slammed remarks made by US Defense Secretary Mark Esper outlining the new mid-range ballistic missile deployment plans, crucially which came immediately on the heels of the formal collapse of the landmark US-Russia INF treaty, saying American greed and naked drive for hegemony will spark a dangerously unprecedented arms race which will fuel further "instability" across Asia. The Global Times commentary opens with:
The US is greedily pursuing an absolute and all-sided military superiority to consolidate its hegemony. It refuses to accept any relative balance of power. Such a stubborn and overbearing country has become the largest source of Asia's instability.
The authors further warn US plans will "break the status quo" in Asia, unleashing "geopolitical chaos" by deploying offensive weapons, because "Any country accepting US deployment would be against China and Russia, directly or indirectly, and draw fire against itself."
"Asian countries must collectively resist the US' attempt in creating new crisis in this region and prevent it from provoking extreme arms races and forcing all countries to take sides," the editorial urges further.
If the US really deploys Intermediate-range missile in Asia, it will inevitably trigger an intense arms race. Arms race is full of uncertainties, but it will only have one result. That is China will have a strategic weapons arsenal on par with that of the US. https://t.co/jM6JzaeQIE
— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) August 4, 2019
No comments:
Post a Comment