China’s Li says clash with US would bring ‘unbearable disaster’
Al JazeeraAt Asia security forum, Chinese defence minister says Beijing seeks dialogue with the US and warns against ‘NATO-like’ alliances in Pacific region. Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu has said Beijing seeks dialogue over confrontation with the United States, warning that any conflict between the two nations would bring “unbearable disaster for the world”. “It is undeniable that a severe conflict or confrontation between China and the US will be an unbearable disaster for the world.” Ties between Washington and Beijing are badly strained over a range of issues, including democratically ruled Taiwan, territorial disputes in the South China Sea and US President Joe Biden’s restrictions on semiconductor chip exports. Li’s speech at the Singapore meeting was more restrained, although he accused the US and others of “meddling in China’s internal affairs” by providing Taiwan with defence support and training and conducting high-level diplomatic visits. “Even before the recent direct confrontations, China’s sea lanes of communication which is not only the Taiwan Strait but the South China Sea is surrounded, encircled by American military assets – the first island chain Centre in Okinawa, the second island chain centre in Guam, together with the military chokepoints in Singapore, which controls the throat as it were, of the outflow of Chinese lifeblood of trade, of importation of energy,” said Andrew Leung, an independent China consultant and analyst based in Hong Kong.