Biden slammed for offering 'conciliatory hand' to China after close call with warships
Fox News senior strategic analyst Jack Keane weighs in on Chinese military provocations at sea and in the air.
Fox News senior strategic analyst Jack Keane slammed President Biden Monday for offering a "conciliatory hand" to China after a warship came within yards of a U.S. destroyer in the Taiwan Strait. The retired four-star Army general joined "America's Newsroom" to discuss why he believes Biden is stuck in Obama-era foreign policy and why he shouldn't be offering "overt gestures" to Beijing amid heightened bilateral tension.
CHINA’S DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS WAR WITH US WOULD BE ‘UNBEARABLE DISASTER'
JACK KEANE: The people who are in a national security arena, who I've spoken to on more than one occasion, they know full well how serious this threat is from China and how comprehensive it is … in terms of what they're doing at home. But [Biden] seems to have his mind back in a previous Obama administration, where you want to reach out and to offer a conciliatory hand every time there's a problem with China, and really that is not how to deal with this country. Who they are today is not who they were ten years ago. This is very aggressive, strategic goals… dominate and control the region, replace the United States as the world's global leader, and they are about that every single day. After the spy balloon, what we should have said is we'll take a private apology on this, and when you're ready to talk to us, we'll consider talking to you as opposed to all these overt gestures to talk to them.
In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, the USS Chung-Hoon observes a Chinese navy ship conduct what it called an "unsafe" Chinese maneuver in the Taiwan Strait, Saturday, June 3, 2023, in which the Chinese navy ship cut sharply across the path of the American destroyer, forcing the U.S. ship to slow to avoid a collision. The incident occurred as the American destroyer and Canadian frigate HMCS Montreal were conducting a so-called "freedom of navigation" transit of the strait between Taiwan and mainland China. (Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Andre T. Richard/U.S. Navy via AP)
CHINESE WARSHIP COMES WITHIN YARDS OF US DESTROYER IN LATEST ACT OF AGGRESSION IN TAIWAN STRAIT
The U.S. military released video on Monday of a close encounter between a Chinese navy ship and an American destroyer in the Taiwan Strait over the weekend.
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) reported China's "unsafe maneuver" on Saturday, but did not release the video footage until early Monday morning, in which a Chinese navy ship can be seen cutting sharply across the path of USS Chung-Hoon. The destroyer had to slow down to 10 knots to avoid a collision.
USS Chung-Hoon and Canadian frigate HMCS Montreal were conducting a "freedom of navigation" transit of the strait between Taiwan and China's mainland – waters that are considered international to the U.S. and its allies, but an "exclusive economic zone" to China.
USINDOPACOM said China's "actions violated the maritime ‘Rules of the Road’ of safe passage in international waters."
"Chung-Hoon and Montreal’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the combined U.S.-Canadian commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific," the USINDOPACOM said. "The U.S. military flies, sails, and operates safely and responsibly anywhere international law allows."
On Saturday, the Chinese guided-missile destroyer overtook the Chung-Hoon on its port side then veered across its bow at a distance of approximately 150 yards, according to the USINDOPACOM. The Chinese ship then straightened out and began sailing in a parallel direction.
Fox News Digital's Elizabeth Pritchett, Brie Stimson, Liz Friden and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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