A senior Chinese military officer who spoke at a conference in Beijing on Saturday urged the Chinese navy to use force to counter US activities in the South China Sea.
The People's Liberation Army Air Force colonel commandant argued that the Chinese navy should ram US Navy warships that try to conduct freedom-of-navigation operations in "Chinese waters" in the South China Sea, Taiwan News reported.
Such an aggressive action would certainly constitute an escalation after an incident in September in which a Chinese navy destroyer nearly collided with a US warship in the South China Sea.