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Pentagon chief says China’s activities in Taiwan Strait are increasingly provocative

Lloyd Austin also attributed to Moscow and Beijing the desire to build a world based on the rule of the strong

OTTAWA, November 20. /TASS/. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Saturday said China’s activities in the Taiwan Strait are increasingly provocative.

He said in the Indo-Pacific region China "is also pushing for something very far from our vision of a free, and stable, and open international system."

The US official asserted that Moscow and Beijing seek a world where might makes right.

"We remain clear-eyed about the China challenge," Austin said. "The PRC’s military activities in the Taiwan Strait are growing increasingly provocative, with PLA aircraft flying near Taiwan in record numbers on a near-daily basis."

He said there had been a sharp increase in the number of dangerous PLA intercepts of US and allied forces - including Canadian - aircraft that "were operating lawfully in international airspace over the South and East China Seas.".

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