China Exposes Austin’s Lying Shangri-La Speech

June 12, 2022 (EIRNS)—China blasted U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s June 11 speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, particularly his propagandization of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy, as increasing the war danger in Asia. Lt. Gen. Zhang Zhenzhong, deputy chief of the Joint Staff Department in the Central Military Commission, told reporters on Saturday at the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore that the Indo-Pacific Strategy is designed to trap the Asia-Pacific region into a geopolitical game and confrontation as it tries to form a small circle by roping in some countries to incite against others, reported China’s armed forces website via Xinhua. It seriously impacts the ASEAN-centered regional cooperation architecture and seriously harms the overall and long-term interests of countries in the region, he added. “The U.S. has already turned the Middle East and Europe into a mess, does it want to mess up the Asia-Pacific next?” Zhang asked, declaring that it is absolutely not allowed.

Zhang said the U.S. strategy is designed to destroy peace. The mainstream voice of Asia-Pacific countries is peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, but the U.S., in contrast, advocates competition between major powers and creates military confrontation, sending warplanes to showcase its military might in the South China Sea, launching military drills with allies, which all created tensions in the region. In conclusion, Zhang said that strategy served the interests of the U.S. against the common will of the regional countries, and stressed that for these reasons it must not succeed.

Zhang said that the United States often talks about the rule-based international order, but it actually treats international rules and norms as a toy. Withdrawing from treaties, breaking away from agreements at its own will, waving the stick of unilateral sanctions against other countries, and interfering in other countries’ internal affairs, the United States, in reality, tries to rule the world with its own domestic laws and gangster rules, said Zhang.

“The United States is the biggest source of instability in international order, the backstage manipulator for global turmoil and a dangerous threat to regional peace and stability,” Zhang argued.