China mouthpiece claims pre-poll Trump drone strike imminent; warns of heavy retaliation

'Expansionist' China claims virtually the entire South China Sea for itself and is pitted against smaller neighbours in multiple territorial disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons. The US has been very vocal against China building military bases on artificial islands in the region. The tensions over the two countries have worsened over this issue among many others. In recent months, the US has stepped up its naval presence in the South China Sea, vowing to protect navigation freedom.

'PLA will definitely fight back fiercely'

On Monday, Hu Xijin, the editor of the Chinese Communist Party's mouthpiece Global Times said that if America starts a war in the South China Sea, it will pay "a heavy price." Taking to Twitter, the Chinese Stooge said that based on information he had learned, "Trump govt could take the risk to attack China’s islands in the South China Sea with MQ-9 Reaper drones to aid his reelection campaign".

Threatening America, he went on to say, " If it happens, the PLA will definitely fight back fiercely and let those who start the war pay a heavy price."

The United States on Sunday said that China is using its militarised outposts in the South China Sea as platforms of coercion to assert control over waters it has no lawful claim over and demanded President Xi Jinping to honour his commitment that these maritime constructions "would not target or impact any country". Beijing claims almost all of the 1.3 million square-mile South China Sea as its sovereign territory. 

Beijing has impeded commercial activity like fishing and mineral exploration by neighbouring nations in recent years, saying the ownership of the resource-rich maritime territory belongs to China for hundreds of years.

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Global pushback against China

US State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus on Sunday said five years ago on September 25, 2015, the Chinese President, standing in the White House Rose Garden, promised ''China does not intend to pursue militarization'' of the Spratly Islands, and China''s outposts ''would not target or impact any country''. In recent months, there has been an unprecedented number of states expressing their formal opposition at the United Nations to China's unlawful maritime claims in the South China Sea, she said.

Earlier this month, an Indonesian patrol ship confronted a Chinese coast guard vessel that spent almost three days in waters where Indonesia claims economic rights and are near the southernmost part of China's disputed South China Sea claims. The Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam have also engaged in the push-back against Chinese claims and actions in the area, while progress in talks between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China over the South China Sea appear at a standstill.

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