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China’s Army is increasing military coercion and provocations in Asia

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A National Defense University expert on China told a congressional hearing Wednesday that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army is increasing its level of military coercion in Asia as part of a strategy to extend China’s power and influence across the region, the Washington Times reports.

NDU China expert Joel Wuthnow told the congressional commission on China that the Chinese government has conducted “gray zone” warfare (which falls below the level of armed conflict) near Taiwan, Japan and the South China Sea. Wuthnow said such warfare is a combination of military diplomacy and provocative actions – although coercive activity has been dominant.

Moreover, Wuthnow said: “U.S. forces in the region were not immune from aggressive Chinese tactics. In February, U.S. Pacific Fleet reported that a P-8A Poseidon patrol aircraft had been targeted with a high-powered laser from a Chinese destroyer west of Guam.” This incident, Wuthnow said, was just the latest in a series of Chinese lasing incidents against U.S. aircraft.

Significantly, the commission was told that China recently engaged in a deadly military clash with India at the disputed Line of Control which lies between the two countries. Following an incursion in April of an estimated 5,000 Chinese troops into a border area claimed by India, hand-to-hand combat broke out on June 15. Twenty Indian troops and an unknown number of Chinese soldiers were killed in the fighting, the Washington Times reports.

In other parts of the region, Taiwan has been subjected to having Chinese bomber and jet fighter flights around it and Japan has seen increased operations by China’s navy around the disputed Senkaku Islands. Furthermore, the Chinese maritime militia, coast guard, and naval forces have carried out provocative actions in the South Seas, including intimidation of Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas drilling operations.

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