China’s military is paying “close attention” to an agreement between the United States and Singapore to deploy the US P8 Poseidon spy plane to the city state and hopes the move does not harm regional
China’s military is paying “close attention” to an agreement between the United States and Singapore to deploy the US P8 Poseidon spy plane to the city state and hopes the move does not harm regional stability, the defence ministry said.
“We are paying close attention to how the relevant situation develops, and hope bilateral defence cooperation between the relevant countries is beneficial to regional peace and stability and not the opposite,” the ministry said in a brief statement late on Tuesday. The foreign ministry of China, which is at odds with Washington over the South China Sea, said on Tuesday the move was aimed at militarising the region.
In a joint statement after a meeting in Washington on Monday, US defence secretary Ash Carter and Singapore defence minister Ng Eng Hen welcomed the inaugural deployment of the aircraft in Singapore from December 7 to 14.
A US official said further deployments in Singapore could be expected.
