China accuses US of 'abusing' int'l law

BEIJING, Jan 26 (AP): China accused the US of abusing international law with its military maneuvers in the western Pacific, one day after an American naval destroyer sailed through the politically sensitive Taiwan Strait.
While China welcomes military-to-military communication with the United States, Defence Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian said Thursday that US warplane and warship activity "on China's doorstep" is the root cause of the problems between the two military powers.
"The United States side should stop abusing international law, cease all dangerous and provocative behavior, and strictly restrain the activities of front-line troops, which is the fundamental way to avoid accidents at sea and in the air," he said at a monthly briefing.
The USS John Finn sailed Wednesday though the 160-kilometer (100-mile)-wide waterway that separates China from Taiwan, a self-governing island that China claims as its own territory.
China agreed to resume military contacts with the US at a meeting last November between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in California. In part, the argument for doing so was to be able to manage an unintentional collision or other incident that could happen as both sides hold drills and patrol the waters in regional hotspots including the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.
The US defends its actions as in line with international laws that guarantee freedom of navigation.
"No member of the international community should be intimidated or coerced into giving up their rights and freedoms," the US Navy's 7th Fleet said in a news release on the John Finn's transit of the Strait. "The United States military flies, sails and operates anywhere international law allows."
China's rise has given it the ability to project military power into the western Pacific, which brings it into conflict with the United States, long the dominant military power in the region.
The American military activity is aimed in part at deterring China from launching any attack on Taiwan or using its strength to enforce its territorial claims in disputes with smaller neighbors such as the Philippines.
Chinese and Philippine ships clashed last year as disputes over shoals and other outcroppings in the South China Sea flared. Wu said the Philippines was violating China's sovereignty "in collusion with outside powers."