The US Department of Defense on Sunday condemned the “increasingly dangerous” actions of the Chinese military in Asia following two incidents between the two countries’ militaries in recent days.

“We remain concerned about the increasingly dangerous and threatening activities of the People’s Liberation Army in the region,” said Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder, who is attending a security conference in Singapore with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

The statements came after two incidents involving US and Chinese military forces in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.

On Saturday, the US Navy accused a Chinese warship of “dangerous movement” around a US destroyer sailing through the Taiwan Strait and escorting a Canadian ship.

The Chinese ship “performed dangerous maneuvers near the American destroyer Chung-Hun,” the US Navy complained.

The Chinese military, for its part, said it was monitoring the passage of the two ships through the strait, but did not report any incident.

“These two countries are deliberately creating trouble in the Taiwan Strait, deliberately fomenting danger, and maliciously undermining regional peace and stability,” said Colonel Xi Yi, spokesman for China’s Eastern Command.

US ships regularly cross the Taiwan Strait but rarely escort Allied ships. The last joint passage of an American and Canadian ship was in September.

The incidents have angered China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory and claims sovereign rights in the straits.

This is the second Sino-US incident in less than 10 days in the region. According to the US military, on May 26, a Chinese fighter pilot made an “unreasonable aggressive maneuver” near a US reconnaissance aircraft flying over the South China Sea. As Beijing responded, the US aircraft “intentionally entered” China’s exercise area “to conduct reconnaissance operations.”

Source: RES-IPE