China has hit back with retaliatory tariffs on some American goods starting Monday, ramping up the trade war between the two countries. At the same time, the Chinese military carried out what it called "routine patrols" in the South China Sea on Wednesday after the United States and its allies held war games in the contested waters.
Regarding the ongoing trade wars, Beijing's move counters US President Donald Trump's recent enforcement of an extra 10% tariff on Chinese imports and a hefty 25% duty on steel and aluminum entering the States. Peking is currently the world's largest producer of steel. As Trump has imposed blanket US tariffs, China's measures are viewed as allowing room for negotiations while attempting to avert a wider trade conflict. Chinese tariffs target US exports of liquefied natural gas, coal, crude oil, and farm equipment with levies of 10 percent up to 15 percent.
In addition, Beijing has turned up the heat by launching an antitrust investigation into Google, which doesn't operate in China, and Illumina, a US biotech firm. It also banned the parent company of fashion heavyweights Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger.
Also, China has restricted exports of five essential metals to the US like solar panels, EV batteries, and other renewable technology, that are crucial for defense, which brings us to the strategic wars that are taking place right now in the South China Sea.
On Wednesday, the Chinese military carried out what it called "routine patrols" in the contested waters after the United States and its allies held their own war games.
The Chinese military's Southern Theater Command spokesperson Tian Junli, who announced the patrols, claimed that China has "indisputable" territorial sovereignty and maritime interests in the South China Sea, which have "ample" historical and legal backing and cannot be violated.
China has long claimed sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, with claims that overlap with those of neighboring nations, including the Philippines, America's treaty ally. For more than a month, the Philippines has been trying to keep Chinese coast guard vessels from nearing Zambales, a province off the heavily populated Philippine island of Luzon.
So this month, the U.S. military conducted several joint training exercises and drills in the contested area with regional and non-regional allied nations such as the Philippines, Australia and Japan, mobilizing bombers on February 4 and its navy the following day.
In the past, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has stated that China has "historic rights" in the South China Sea, as it was the first to discover the waters. However, an international tribunal's 2016 ruling dismissed the sovereignty claims as having no legal basis.
Tian also accused Manila of repeatedly inviting countries outside the South China Sea area for joint patrols, attempting to "cover up" its infringement on Beijing's maritime rights, as well as its undermining of peace and stability in the region.
Meanwhile, the Armed Forces of the Philippines announced that it would conduct a naval drill, formally known as "Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity," on Wednesday with U.S. and Canadian forces within the Philippine 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.
This came after two destroyers and an offshore patrol vessel from the U.S., Australia and the United Kingdom respectively executed a series of combined exercises and operations in the South China Sea from February 6 to 7, which was announced by the U.S. Navy on Tuesday.
Additionally, the U.S. Navy carried out a bilateral exercise involving two destroyers with its Japanese counterpart in the region from Sunday to Monday, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force announced on Wednesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment