US House committee slams China as 'schoolyard bully'
Staff Reporter 2012-09-14 12:44 (GMT+8)
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen called China a bully for its conduct in South China Sea disputes. (Photo/US House of Representatives)
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), chair of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, on Wednesday condemned China for expanding its influence over the South China Sea, reports the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily.
Calling China a "schoolyard bully," Ros-Lehtinen said the US government should not turn its focus away from the Far East because of crises in other regions. "From one end to the other of the South China Sea, Beijing has increased both in belligerence and bellicosity," the congresswoman said. "Our Greatest Generation, however, did not fight its way from island to island across the Pacific, from Midway to Guadalcanal to Iwo Jima, only to see their descendents pushed back across the Pacific by a flood of Chinese cash."
While criticizing the Chinese government for enticing American allies in East Asia, Ros-Lehtinen said that it is important for the United States to maintain peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific through maintaining the freedom of navigation in the region.
"The United States stands by our friends and allies in the Philippines and Japan," she said. Saying that China's first aircraft carrier will be named the Shi Lang after the admiral who conquered Taiwan for the Qing empire of China in the 17th century, Ros-Lehtinen said that China's ambitions already extend far beyond the Taiwan Strait. The world's second-largest economy is considered a threat to US allies in East Asia including the Philippines, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam, she said. "Other global crises must not distract from our vital national interests in the South China Sea and the western Pacific."
Want China Times understands however from reliable sources as well as public statements from military figures in China that the aircraft carrier Varyag, purchased by China from Ukraine and refitted for training purposes, will not be commissioned as the Shi Lang but will rather be named after a Chinese province — possibly Liaoning, where its refit has taken place.
Agreeing with Ros-Lehtinen's remarks, Howard Berman, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that China's territorial claims in the South China Sea are unusually expansive and intentionally vague and have led to a full-scale arms race in the region.
"The United States has a strong national interest in the maintenance of peace and stability, freedom of navigation, unimpeded lawful commerce, and ensuring a peaceful resolution of claims in the South China Sea accepted by all countries," said Berman. "Secretary [of State Hillary] Clinton and other top officials in the Obama administration have repeatedly made clear to Beijing that we will not allow China to assert its hegemony over the region."
