China’s military sharply criticised the US on Monday for holding military drills in contested waters of the South China Sea, a dispute Beijing has warned Washington not to meddle in. Chen Bingde, People’s Liberation Army Chief of the General Staff, said that if the US really wanted peace in the South China Sea, then the timing of its recent military exercises in the region was poor.
“The US has said many times that it does not intend to get involved in the South China Sea dispute, but … is actually sending out the opposite signal,” Chen told a joint news conference with the visiting head of the U.S. military, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen. “Despite having conducted them in the past, holding these military drills at this moment is extremely inappropriate,” Chen said.
