US senate unveils $750-billion proposal aimed at China's growing influence

The US senate has unveiled a draft bill that would authorize Washington to modernize its nuclear weapon arsenal, in a move to counter China’s growing influence around the globe.

The Senate Armed Services Committee unveiled the $750-billion proposal on Thursday, admitting that America’s “margin of military supremacy has eroded and is undermined by new threats from strategic competitors like China and Russia.”

The bill would also authorize the Pentagon to buy more Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth jets.

China’s foreign ministry denounced the move on Thursday, saying the “legislation violates the basic norms of international law and international relations and the Chinese side, of course, firmly objects.”

“We urge the US side not to proceed the deliberation of the legislation, in order not to bring new disruption to the China-US relations,” said Lu Kang, a ministry spokesman.

Lu said that the “legislation violates the basic norms of international law and international relations and the Chinese side, of course, firmly objects.”

Earlier on Wednesday, China's disarmament ambassador Li Song told the world's main disarmament forum In Geneva that Washington’s foreign policy was destabilizing, baffling and redolent of Don Quixote — the Spanish fictional hero whose misplaced determination leads him on a series of doomed endeavors.

"The Cold War mentality has come back to drive the security strategy and policy of a major power," Li told the Conference on Disarmament. "In particular, the US keeps saying other countries make it feel unsafe - this is truly baffling.

This is only one of a growing number of sticking points in the US-China relationship, which also include a trade war initiated by the US as well as an aggressive campaign it launched against Chinese telecom giant Huawei.

Washington has escalated its trade dispute with Beijing over the past weeks, raising speculations that tensions could even extend beyond the trade sphere and affect other areas of contention, including Taiwan as well as the South China Sea.

SS