WASHINGTON -- China's top military leader is warning that the U.S. must be objective about the tensions between China and Vietnam, or risk harming relations between Washington and Beijing.
People's Liberation Army's Chief of the General Staff Gen. Fang Fenghui says the U.S. effort to increase focus on the Asia Pacific has stirred up disputes in the East and South China Seas.
Fang was at the Pentagon for meetings with U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey. Dempsey says they talked about the risk of provocation in using military assets in the region.
Fang's visit comes amid rising tensions between Hanoi and Beijing as they square off against each other in the disputed South China Sea.
On Thursday, a 1,000-strong mob stormed a Taiwanese steel mill in Vietnam and hunted down Chinese workers, killing one, attacking scores more and then setting the complex alight, Taiwanese and Vietnamese authorities said.
It was the first deadly incident in a wave of anti-China protests triggered by Beijing's deployment of an oil rig in the long-disputed seas on May 1. Vietnam is angrily demanding that China remove the rig and has sent ships to confront it and a flotilla of Chinese escort ships, triggering fears of possible conflict.
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