
(NewsBreakDaily.org) – With the COVID-19 pandemic holding the world in its grip, diplomatic and military relations between China, the United States and regional neighbors are heating up. Beyond the accusations flying back and forth between Beijing and Washington D.C. about where the novel coronavirus originated, China has chosen now to make a move on the territories of other nations.
#DFAStatement: On China’s Self-Declared “Nansha” and “Xisha” Districts in the South China Sea and Naming of Features in the KIG pic.twitter.com/wRe7s3w946
— DFA Philippines (@DFAPHL) April 30, 2020
In response, US Navy ships have made several “freedom of navigation” trips through what are officially international waters. China has unilaterally declared the Spratly Islands and the Paracel Islands official parts of their country, despite valid claims of Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines to different areas of the South China Sea.
A #USNavy Sailor stands watch on the bridge, as the forward-deployed guided-missile destroyer #USSBarry (DDG 52) operates in the vicinity of the Paracel Islands, in the South China Sea, April 28. @US7thFleet #FreeAndOpenIndoPacific pic.twitter.com/j21TqDsSzB
— U.S. Navy (@USNavy) April 29, 2020
While the entire world tries to figure out how to save their people and their economies, China has decided to increase the sound of their saber-rattling. All things considered, the timing seems awfully…convenient.
Copyright 2020, NewsBreakDaily.org