The United States Navy took a jibe at China after a news report claimed that Beijing has a wide selection of anti-aircraft carrier weapons and the South China Sea is fully within grasp of the Chinese army. The US Navy said that it is “not intimidated”.
“China has a wide selection of anti-aircraft carrier weapons like DF-21D and DF-26 “aircraft carrier killer” #missiles. South China Sea is fully within grasp of the #PLA; any US #aircraftcarrier movement in the region is at the pleasure of PLA: analysts,” a tweet from China’s Global Times said.
In response, the US Navy’s chief of information tweeted, “And yet, there they are. Two @USNavy aircraft carriers operating in the international waters of the South China Sea. #USSNimitz & #USSRonaldReagan are not intimidated.” It tagged the Global Times report and used the hashtag #AtOurDiscretion.
The United States has sent the two aircraft carriers – USS Ronald Reagan and USS Nimitz – to the South China Sea to participate in a military exercise.
The exercise is long-planned but comes as China conducts military drills of its own in the area, near the contested Paracel Islands, exercises that have been criticised by the US and other countries.
The US Navy’s operation of two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the South China Sea region further represents a significant show of force and comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing over a number of areas, including Hong Kong.
The US has also targeted China over the coronavirus disease which was first reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan and later spread to the world. Washingtomn accuses Beijing of hiding information from the world.
China responded with a short video on Twitter in May which said that Washington didn’t listen to the words of caution from Beijing on the coronavirus outbreak.
The animated video was posted on Twitter by the Chinese Embassy in France on Thursday and was titled “Once upon a virus”.
The video lists the timeline of the outbreak, with cartoon figures representing China and the United States accusing each other. While the Chinese side in the video says it informed about the discovery of a new virus in January, the US didn’t take any note of it.
The one minute 39 seconds video further shows China announcing its lockdown in January, and the US calling it barbaric. It also shows the US accusing China of human rights violation – more than once.
