JAKARTA - The White House said a dangerous meeting of US and Chinese defense equipment in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, reflected the increasing aggressiveness by the Beijing military that increased the risk of error where "one was injured".
Washington's sharp warning follows a video release by the US Navy on Sunday of what it calls an "unsafe interaction" in the Taiwan Strait where a Chinese warship crosses in front of a US destroyer in a sensitive waterway.
The incident comes as the two countries blame each other for not holding military talks, with disagreements between rivals over everything, from trade and Taiwan to Russia's invasion of Ukraine that could increase the potential for future confrontations.
It also follows a May 26 incident in which Chinese fighter jets carried out what the United States called "unnecessary aggressive" maneuvers near American military aircraft over the South China Sea in international airspace.
"Unfortunately, this is only part of, once again, the aggressiveness developed by the PRC (Chinese People's Republic) that we are working on, and we are ready to tackle it," White House spokesman John Kirby said.
"It won't take long for someone to get hurt. There isn't a lot of need for mistakes in the assessment or mistakes to make," he said.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, "the actions taken by the Chinese military fully make sense, are legitimate, professional, and safe," he said.
Kirby said the United States would continue to defend freedom of navigation in the air and sea.
"I'm sure I want to hear Beijing justify what they do. Air and maritime interception happens all the time. In fact, we do. The difference is... when we feel the need to do it, it's done professionally," he explained. "
Kirby further said that if China wanted to convey a message that the United States was not accepted in the region or wanted US aircraft and ships to stop flying and sailing to support international law, it would not work.
"That's not going to happen," Kirby said.
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Separately, despite rising tensions, US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said President Joe Biden's administration "wants to continue to have predictable relationships with the RRT."
"President Biden has made it clear that we are not looking for any new Cold War, and our competition should not spread into conflict," Patel told reporters.
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