Senior Chinese military officer calls for attacks on US ships in the South China Sea

The South China Sea is a powder keg, and one Chinese military officer and expert seems interested in lighting the fuse.

Dai Xu, a People's Liberation Army Air Force senior colonel and the president of China's Institute of Marine Safety and Cooperation, suggested at a conference in Beijing on Saturday that the Chinese navy should use force to counter US freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea, Taiwan News reported.

Taiwan News, citing a report from the Global Times, the nationalist, state-backed Chinese tabloid that hosted the conference, quoted him as saying: "If the US warships break into Chinese waters again, I suggest that two warships should be sent: one to stop it, and another one to ram it ... In our territorial waters, we won't allow US warships to create disturbance."

Dai, known for his hawkish rhetoric, argued that the US Navy's operations are provocations aimed at undermining China's sovereignty rather than an attempt to ensure freedom of navigation in international waters. The US Navy regularly sails destroyers and cruisers past Chinese-occupied territories in the South China Sea, while US Air Force bombers fly past on routine overflights that often ruffle Beijing's feathers.

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