Bill Gertz, Inside the Ring, Washington Times

Top U.S. government and military leaders are hosting a senior Chinese general this week, as the communist government is stepping up harsh rhetoric and blaming the United States for new tensions in the South China Sea.

On May 5, the U.S. Navy reported encountering two Chinese warships near the disputed Scarborough Shoal. / U.S. Navy

People’s Liberation Army Gen. Fang Fenghui, chief of the general staff and China’s No. 3 military leader, toured the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in San Diego on Tuesday. He was in Washington for meetings Wednesday at the National Defense University and Pentagon as part of a five-day visit.
On the Reagan, Gen. Fang met with Adm. Samuel J. Locklear, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command who has sought to play down the growing military threat posed by China.
The four-star admiral told a reporter last year that his biggest worry in the Pacific is not China, but climate change, a key theme of the Obama administration’s agenda.

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