A Nation Must Think Before it Acts FPRI Senior Fellow June Teufel Dreyer Cited by Japan Times on Chinese actions in the South China Sea
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FPRI Senior Fellow June Teufel Dreyer Cited by Japan Times on Chinese actions in the South China Sea
June Teufel Dreyer
Home / News / FPRI Senior Fellow June Teufel Dreyer Cited by Japan Times on Chinese actions in the South China Sea
"This is very serious," said June Teufel Dreyer, a University of Miami political science professor and Asia expert.
"The Chinese government habitually does not link their actions with specific prior acts by the other side, and the American mainstream media has been far too quick to link it to Trump's behavior, which would be more likely to elicit Chinese pressure on Taiwan."
Rather than a reaction to Trump's Taiwan call, Dreyer said, the seizure was likely an attempt by Beijing to more vociferously express its objections to American surveillance efforts in the region.
"The Chinese have frequently objected to U.S. ships and planes … in the South China Sea, so I consider it a reaction to that — the People's Liberation Army Navy has been shadowing the Bowditch, among other ships, for several years now," Dreyer added.