US says Chinese jets over S. China Sea destabilising but pose no threat
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WASHINGTON • The United States said that Chinese military flights in the past week in the South China Sea fit a pattern of destabilising and aggressive behaviour by Beijing but posed no threat to a US Navy aircraft carrier strike group in the region.
"The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group closely monitored all People's Liberation Army Navy (Plan) and Air Force (Plaaf) activity, and at no time did they pose a threat to US Navy ships, aircraft or sailors," the US military's Pacific Command said in a statement on Friday.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Chinese aircraft did not come within 460km of the US Navy vessels.
Taiwan reported that several Chinese air force aircraft flew into the south-western corner of its air defence identification zone last weekend, near the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands, including fighter jets and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers.
Regional security and diplomatic sources familiar with the situation said China's air force was dispatched on missions beginning mid-morning on Jan 23, coinciding with the US carrier group passing south of the Pratas.
The US statement came as the Biden administration said it will review the US-China Phase 1 trade deal signed in January last year by former president Donald Trump.
"Everything that the past administration has put in place is under review, as it relates to our national security approach, so I would not assume things are moving forward," White House press secretary Jen Psaki told a briefing on Friday in response to a question of whether President Joe Biden viewed the deal as still in effect.
Ms Psaki said the Biden administration was focused on approaching the US-China relationship "from a position of strength, and that means coordinating and communicating with our allies and partners about how we're going to work with China".
Mr Trump signed the Phase 1 trade agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping, easing a nearly 18-month trade war in which US and Chinese goods worth hundreds of billions of dollars were hit by tit-for-tat tariffs.
No comment was immediately available from the White House on whether the Biden administration was actively considering withdrawing from the interim trade deal.
REUTERS
