Defense Secretary Ash Carter and two of his senior naval officers today responded to reporters’ questions about China during the 15th annual International Institute for Strategic Studies Asia Security Summit, known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, in Singapore. “It’s not a focus on China”.
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Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post has reported that China plans to establish an outpost on the shoal, located 230 kilometres (140 miles) off the Philippines, which considers it part of its exclusive economic zone.
“China firmly opposes such behavior”. Carter added that the United States is committed to continuing its involvement in the Asia-Pacific region while cooperating with countries such as Japan and southeast Asian nations.
“We urge the resumption of peaceful negotiations, including on a binding code of conduct on the South China Sea”, British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said.
She added that they blamed China for the regional security issue when China is actually the victim and sowed discord between China and other regional countries.
An airstrip there would add to China’s network of runways and surveillance sites that U.S. Pacific Command chief Harry Harris said previous year would create “a mechanism by which China would have de facto control over the South China Sea in any scenario short of war”.
“So we urge China not to move unilaterally in ways that are provocative”, the top USA diplomat added in joint statements in Ulaanbaatar with Mongolian Foreign Minister Lundeg Purevsuren after a meeting.
A decision is expected in the coming weeks but Beijing has reportedly said that it will not recognise any ruling.
The US has also voiced its opposition to such a zone. The court ruled previous year that it has jurisdiction over the case, despite protests from China.
Beijing’s territorial claims, based on controversial historical records, have pitted it against the United States, which has conducted patrols near Chinese-held islands to press for “freedom of navigation” in the waterway. China has already made clear non-acceptance and non-participatory position on the arbitration case.
“The only position we’ve taken is, let’s not resolve this by unilateral action, let’s resolve this through rule of law, through diplomacy, through negotiation, and we urge all nations to find a diplomatic solution rooted in global standards and rule of law”, he said.
Adm. Sun, however, said the debate over “the South China Sea issue has become overheated because of the provocations of certain countries for their own selfish interests”.
Kerry says doing so would raise tensions between China and other Asian countries.
Besides China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have claims in the area, and rising tensions have been fuelling increasing security spending in the region.
“It’s not about China”, Carter said.
“There is growing anxiety in this region, and in this room, about China’s activities on the seas, in cyberspace, and in the region’s airspace”, he said.
While Canberra has said it supports recent American sail-throughs and flyovers in the South China Sea, which is the subject of a web of complicated territorial disputes, so far it hasn’t publicly participated in any joint operations.
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Still, security analysts are concerned China will continue taking actions that are too minor to prompt a response, but which over time equate to substantial change. Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell argued that the most critical variable for Asia’s future is not the growth of Chinese power but the extent to which America will sustain its regional leadership.
