The USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) was denied a port visit in Hong Kong on Thanksgiving. At first, there was some confusion about the reasoning for that. China has cleared all that up:
China’s last-minute cancellation of a U.S. Navy visit to Hong Kong was not the result of a misunderstanding, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Thursday, adding that ties had been “disturbed and harmed” by Congress’ honoring of the Dalai Lama and U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.
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He pointed to Congress’ awarding its highest civilian honor to the Dalai Lama last month. Although the Tibetan spiritual leader is lauded in much of the world as a figure of moral authority, Beijing demonizes the monk and claims he seeks to destroy China’s sovereignty by pushing for independence for Tibet.
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The Global Times, a tabloid published by the official party mouthpiece People’s Daily, cited an unidentified People’s Liberation Army senior colonel, as blaming Washington’s decision to sell Taiwan an anti-missile defense system.
That “obviously sent the wrong signals” to Taiwan’s leader, Chen Shui-bian, whom China abhors for his campaign to assert the self-ruling island’s independent identity, the paper quoted the colonel as saying.
“At a time when the U.S. side is seriously harming China’s interests, there is no logic under heaven by which China should then be expected to open its heart and embrace it,” the paper said Thursday.
These folks are not our friends in any way, shape or form. This behavior shows that clearly. We have a future confrontation looming with China, and we are funding so much of our operations with money borrowed from them. This is another good reason to start cutting programs and the budget.
“The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.â€
Who owns who here?
