China should not assume that the United States will not use military force against it to defend Vietnam, according to an American strategist.
Ernest Z Bower, a senior analyst focused on Southeast Asia at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, has been highly critical of China since the tense standoff between Chinese and Vietnamese vessels last month over China's Haiyang Shiyou 981 oil rig deployed in waters off the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.
"It is clear that China's new assertiveness is triggering anxieties among its neighbors," Bower said in an interview with German broadcaster Deutsche Welle published on May 13.
Read the full story at Want China Times