BEIJING: Prospective US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson better watch his mouth, angry Chinese media said on Friday, warning Donald Trump’s nominee that his threats to block China in the South China Sea are fighting words.
The comments came after the former ExxonMobil CEO told US senators that he would seek to deny Beijing access to the artificial islands they have been building in the South China Sea.
China’s actions in the region are comparable to Russia’s invasion of Crimea, he said, a comment that did not sit well with the nuclear-armed Asian giant.
If Tillerson acted on his threats, Chinese state-owned China Daily warned “it would set a course for devastating confrontation between China and the US.” Tillerson explicitly said that the territories “are not rightfully China’s.”
“Unless Washington plans to wage a large scale war in the South China Sea, any other approaches to prevent Chinese access to the islands will be foolish,” the nationalistic Global Times wrote in an editorial.
China’s official reaction to the comments was muted, with foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang politely urging Washington to mind its own business.
Trump backs nominees
Trump yesterday shrugged off the strikingly divergent positions his cabinet picks have taken on Russia, torture, and a host of other issues, saying he wanted them to express their own ideas.
“All of my Cabinet nominee (sic) are looking good and doing a great job,” he said in an early morning tweet. “I want them to be themselves and express their own thoughts, not mine!”
The views of his nominees have often contradicted Trump’s most incendiary pledges made during the presidential campaign.
