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Not realistic to use drills to coerce on sovereignty: China

Not realistic to use drills to coerce on sovereignty: China

South China Sea

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The United States has withdrawn an invitation to China to attend a major US-hosted naval drill

China says on Thursday (May 24) it is not realistic to use drills to coerce China on sovereignty after the United States withdrew an invitation to China to attend a major US-hosted naval drill.

The Rim of the Pacific exercise, known as RIMPAC and previously attended by China, is billed as the world's largest international maritime exercise and held every two years in Hawaii in June and July.

RIMPAC had enabled the armed forces of the world's two largest economies to directly engage with each other and had been viewed by both countries as a way to ease tensions and reduce the risk of miscalculation should they meet under less friendly circumstances.

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The Pentagon said the withdrawal of the invitation was in response to what it sees as Beijing's militarisation of islands in the disputed South China Sea, a strategic waterway claimed in large part by Beijing.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China has sovereign rights in the South China Sea and it is not realistic for the United States to use this kind of action to try to coerce Beijing.

The United States has dispatched warships to disputed areas of the South China Sea in a bid to challenge China's extensive sovereignty claims in the territory, which is subject to various claims by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia.