US dubs China the new East India Company at sea

7 views | Jul 15, 2020, 01:53:04 PM | TOI.in
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A senior US official on Tuesday likened China's state enterprises to Britain's colonizing East India Company as Washington takes a tougher stance against Beijing in the dispute-rife South China Sea. A day after secretary of state Mike Pompeo branded most of Beijing's claims in the sea illegal, his top aide for East Asia denounced a proliferation of rigs, survey ships and fishing boats sent by Chinese state-run companies. Assistant secretary of state David Stilwell said that oil major CNOOC and other firms were serving as "battering rams" to intimidate other nations.