A soldier stands guard near a barbed wire fence on Hwanggumpyong Island located in the middle of the Yalu River, near the North Korean town of Sinuiju and the Chinese border city of Dandong, in this March 29, 2013 file photo. REUTERS-Jacky Chen-Files
A show of force by U.S. stealth jets over the Korean Peninsula after talk of war by Pyongyang has caused only minor concern in China, a measure of Beijing’s belief that the North is to blame for the tensions and that hostilities are not imminent.
The presence of U.S. forces in places like South Korea and Japan has long worried Beijing, feeding its fears that it is being surrounded and “contained” by Washington and its allies, especially following the U.S. strategic pivot to Asia.
The flying of B-2 and F-22 stealth jets in joint exercises with South Korea, bringing U.S. military might virtually to China’s doorstep, has barely generated a response from Beijing except for a generic call for calm and restraint.
Last month’s announcement that the United States would strengthen its anti-missile defenses due to the North’s threats also elicited only relatively mild criticism from China.
“All these new actions from the U.S. side are not targeted at China,” said Ni Lexiong, a military expert at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law.
“There is no possible threat to China.”
