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Beijing, Feb. 22 (ANI): With its proposed weapon deal with Taiwan, the US appears determined to encircle China with American-built anti-missile systems, Chinese military experts have observed.

Taiwan became the fifth global buyer of the Patriot missile defense system last year following Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Arab Emirates and Germany.

According to Chinese military strategists, Washington’s weapon deal with Taiwan is the key part of a US strategic encirclement of China in the East Asian region.

“China is in a crescent-shaped ring of encirclement. The ring begins in Japan, stretches through nations in the South China Sea to India, and ends in Afghanistan. Washington’s deployment of anti-missile systems around China’s periphery forms a crescent-shaped encirclement,” China Daily quoted Air force colonel Dai Xu, as saying.

Ni Lexiong, an expert on military affairs with the Shanghai Institute of Political Science and Law, said: “The US anti-missile system in China’s neighbourhood is a replica of its strategy in Eastern Europe against Russia. The Obama administration began to plan for such a system around China after its project in Eastern Europe got suspended”.

Another expert, Tang Xiaosong of Guangdong University, noted that Washington is hoping to sell India and other Southeast Asian countries the Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC)-3 missile defense system, and expand its ring.

China is closely monitoring US-India missile defense cooperation since it believes that any integration of India into the US global missile defense system, would profoundly affect China’s security.

However, former Chinese Ambassador to India Pei Yuanying, believes that India is unlikely to be part of any such US scheme against China.

“New Delhi needs to develop relations with the US, but it wants to be an independent international power on the international arena,” he said. (ANI)