The United States is stepping up its firepower in the South China Sea to counter China’s military expansion in the region.
Advertisement
“We must continue to operate in the South China Sea to demonstrate that that water space and the air above it is worldwide”, Harris said.
The Philippines’ Jose said a chair’s statement will be issued after the retreat, but a geopolitical analyst doubts that it will be hard on China.
Mindful of the importance of bilateral relations, China adopts a cooperative and goodwill attitude, and maintains lines of communication to ease US concerns.
Hua reiterated that Beijing is free to deploy anything it deems fit to the China-controlled Paracels islands.
Recent moves by China to place anti-aircraft batteries and radar systems on disputed islands in the South China Sea violate Vietnam’s sovereignty and pose a threat to regional stability and peace, a Vietnamese government spokesman said on Thursday. Then on Monday, a US think tank reported that China has built new radar facilities in the Spratly Islands, which lie further south.
Satellite imagery released this week shows Beijing is installing radar gear, and China has also deployed surface-to-air missiles and lengthened a runway to accommodate fighter jets on one islet, Woody Island, in the Paracels.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the decision by Philippine leaders to lodge a case with a tribunal in The Hague was “irresponsible to the Filipino people and the future of the Philippines”.
The South China Morning Post reports that the Xiangtan has become an active vessel in the Chinese Navy as of Wednesday and will be deployed in the waters between China and Japan.
He also said China’s military facilities on islands and reefs were needed for self-defense as other nations had already militarized surrounding shores.
The strategic document, the Defense White Paper, said Australia was “particularly concerned by the unprecedented pace and scale of China’s land reclamation activities” in the South China Sea.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott says China is putting the security of the South China Sea at risk.
US Defence Secretary Ash Carter says the United States will not surrender its position as a major Pacific power.
Vietnam will also talk about developments in the South China Sea, its foreign ministry said Thursday.
Actually, it is the United States that has been seeking hegemony in East Asia and a change of “the operational landscape” in the region.
“The reason that these activities are getting notice isn’t because the United States is doing something new”, Carter said.
Advertisement
China on Friday slammed the remarks of a top US admiral on the South China Sea and urged USA officials to stop playing up the situation. “But that is not going to prevent us from flying, sailing or operating wherever global law allows”, he said.
