Beijing tears into Pentagon over South China Sea

Beijing, May 30 

Ahead of a high-level Sino-US dialogue, China today accused the Pentagon of clinging to ‘cold war’ mentality and attempting to stage a Hollywood blockbuster by deploying its modern weapons in the South China Sea to ‘terrify’ Beijing.

In an angry reaction to US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter’s remarks that ‘China’s actions could erect a Great Wall of self-isolation’ in the South China Sea, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said “Carter's remarks reflected typical American style thinking and hegemony”.

“Although we have entered 21st century, some people in US still keeps the cold war mentality,” she said.

China claims all but most all of the SCS which is vehemently disputed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. US waded into the region by sending naval ships and aircraft to assert freedom of navigation around an artificial islands built by Beijing in the region to beef-up its claims. — PTI