7 August, 2010 — Stop NATO

The U.S. ended the four-day Invincible Spirit joint military exercise with South Korea on July 28, which consisted of 20 warships and submarines, 200 aircraft and 8,000 troops ‘in the sea, shore and the skies’ [1] of South Korea and in the Sea of Japan near the coasts of North Korea and Russia.

On the same day the Taiwan News ran a feature entitled ‘China reports: the US means to set up another NATO in Asia,’ which cited Chinese news media, scholars and analysts warning that ‘The US is establishing another ‘NATO’ in Asia to contain China as evidenced in the ongoing high-profile naval exercise with South Korea and a perceived intrusion in South China Sea affairs. [T]hese moves including explicit intervention in Asian affairs underline the US’s schemes to challenge China over its growing presence in this area….’

Chinese scholar Shih Yongming is paraphrased as asserting that ‘The US is capitalizing on the contradictions among East Asian countries to form a front against China,’ in reference to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton proposing ‘to include the controversy over the issues of South China Sea into the mechanism of international laws and [speaking] explicitly about US stakes in the disputed sea’s areas,’ [2] an allusion to her comments at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum in Hanoi on July 23.

Continue reading →