STATE DEPARTMENT – The United States is accusing China of taking advantage of the COVID-19 outbreak and increasing its military activities near Taiwan and in the South China Sea. "The United States strongly opposes China’s bullying," U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday, ahead of a virtual meeting between the U.S. and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers later in the day. "We’ve also seen that the Chinese Communist Party is exerting military pressure on Taiwan and coercing its neighbors in the South China Sea, even going so far as to sink a Vietnamese fishing vessel. We hope other nations will hold them to account," added Pompeo during a press briefing, hours before his videoconference with ASEAN ministers. The U.S. and ASEAN had been eyeing a summit to boost ties, at a time when China continues to expand its influence in Southeast Asia. The dialogue was scheduled for March but later postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak. The top U.S. diplomat's warning Wednesday also comes as the U.S. has been conducting flight operations in the South China Sea since mid-April, a move that Washington says demonstrates its "enduring seven-decade commitment to the prosperity and security of the Indo-Pacific." Since the… Read full this story
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