China’s defence ministry says the commander of US forces in the Pacific smeared China while seeking additional defence funding from the US Congress, in the latest accusation in a war of words accompanying rising tensions in the South China Sea.
On Thursday, ministry spokesman Colonel Wu Qian strongly criticised Admiral Harry Harris’ testimony before Congress, in which Harris said China was militarising the economically and strategically vital waterway and seeking “hegemony” in East Asia. China adamantly denies such accusations and says Washington and its allies are responsible for raising tensions.
“I have noted that according to media reports, Admiral Harris made his remarks while seeking additional defence budget funds from Congress,” Wu said.
“We don’t interfere in your seeking defence budget funds, but you can’t carelessly smear China while asking for more money.”
In his testimony before the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Harris commented on the Chinese armed forces’ construction and extension of islands in the highly disputed South China Sea. China is also adding airstrips, harbours, radar stations and other infrastructure and deploying surface-to-air missiles on some.
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Harris described Chinese militarisation as being “as certain as a traffic jam” in Washington. On Tuesday, he told senators that to believe otherwise, “you have to believe in a flat Earth”.