WASHINGTON: White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the US has in some cases, significant concerns about China’s behaviour, particularly its coercive and aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea.
“In some cases, we have significant concerns about China’s behaviour, particularly their coercive and aggressive behaviour for instance in the South China Sea in pursuing false maritime claims, concerns about intellectual theft and some trade practices,” Kirby said in response to a question by Fox News reporter Peter Doocy on US’ relationship with China.
Doocy had asked if President Biden thinks China is abiding by the international rules of the road.
The NCS further said: “There are other areas where we believe there is room for cooperation with China and we want to be able to pursue that, too, but in order to do that, you gotta keep those lines of communication open, you gotta have that ability to talk, particularly when things are intense like they are right now.”
The US on Tuesday refused to confirm a news report citing that the country provided crucial intelligence to the Indian military last year that helped it successfully tackle the Chinese at the border.
Taking to the podium during the daily press briefing, National Security Council coordinator for Strategic Communications at the White House, John Kirby did not deny nor confirmed the story and said, “No, I can’t confirm that,” when pressed about the news report.
According to the U.S. News and World Report, the US government for the first time provided real-time details to its Indian counterparts of the Chinese positions and force strength in advance of incursions by the PLA in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang Sector.
On December 9, 2022, hundreds of Indian and Chinese forces clashed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). (ANI)