US 'disinvites' China From Pacific Navy Drills

The Pentagon has withdrawn an invitation for China to participate in an annual multinational naval exercise in the Pacific, further complicating relations between the two powers.

The move comes amid high-stakes maneuvering over North Korea's nuclear programme, which is scheduled to be the subject of a meeting in June between President Donald Trump and the North's leader, Kim Jong Un. Trump on Tuesday said he suspected that the North's recent talk of scrapping the summit could reflect influence from President Xi Jinping, who recently met Kim.

Washington also is engaged in a trade dispute with China over complaints about market access and technology policy.

The US had included China in the past two Rim of the Pacific, or RimPac, exercises in 2014 and 2016. The engagements were part of an effort by the Obama administration to stabilise military relations with Beijing, which is pitted against smaller neighbours in disputes over islands, reefs and lagoons in waters crucial for global commerce and with huge potential oil and gas reserves.

A Pentagon statement said the decision to withdraw the invitation to the Chinese navy was an initial response to what it called China's militarisation of the South China Sea.

The Pentagon cited what it called strong evidence that China has deployed anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missile systems and electronic jammers to contested areas in the Spratly Island region of the South China Sea. It called on China to remove these systems.

"China's continued militarisation of disputed features in the South China Sea only serve to raise tensions and destabilise the region," said Pentagon spokesman Christopher Logan, said.

"As an initial response to China's continued militarisation of the South China Sea we have disinvited the PLA Navy from the 2018 Rim of the Pacific Exercise. China's behaviour is inconsistent with the principles and purposes of the RimPac exercise."

The Pentagon also cited its objections to China's recent landing of bomber aircraft at Woody Island in the Paracel Island chain, north of the Spratlys.

China maintains that the South China Sea is its sovereign territory and that it is within its rights to build up defences on the islands. (AP)