United States to boost South China Sea freedom of navigation moves, admiral says

China’s efforts to reclaim land in the South China Sea and build up its navy are increasingly spurring regional neighbours to oppose Beijing, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said Thursday.

But was is different is how much influence China has over the region, “short of war they can rise to the level of having tactical control of the water ways of the South China Sea”.

Adm. Harry Harris Jr., commander of USA forces in the Pacific, told Congress this week that China has constructed more than 3,000 acres (1,210 hectares) of artificial land there in little more than two years, compared with about 115 acres reclaimed by the other claimants in more than 45 years.

China has accused the worldwide media of targeting Beijing for its alleged deployment of missiles and radars in the South China Sea, totally ignoring the weaponry of other claimant-countries in the disputed waterway.

Wang’s comments focused on countering the idea that China will overtake the U.S.as a world superpower, and included a call for a peaceful solution to disputes over the sovereignty of the South China Sea. “The Paracel Islands are China’s “inherent territory”, he said.

On China’s opposition to the deployment of advanced US air defenses in South Korea, Harris said Beijing’s protests are “preposterous”.

“Harris is raising alarm about what could happen if there’s not sufficient push back, that’s what he’s trying to provoke here, a more robust response from the region and outside the region”, said Bonnie Glaser, a senior Asia advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “By deploying some necessary defensive facilities on the relevant islands and reefs it defends in the South China Sea, China is exercising the right of self-preservation that every country enjoys according to global law, which is beyond reproach”.

“The United States is the real promoter of the militarisation of the South China Sea”, defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian told a regular monthly news briefing.

Beijing says continued activities by U.S. military ships and planes near the man-made islands have sought to provoke a response from Beijing.

“The US has been speculating about the legitimacy of China’s military activity with an ulterior motive”, Wu said.

After the envoy left, she says, “The North Korean regime fired the equivalent of a ballistic missile – a space launch – and I think that was something that… certainly on the basis of how our negotiations picked up speed at that point, I think that was a source of great irritation for China”.

Harris described Chinese militarization as being “as certain as a traffic jam” in Washington, D.C. On Tuesday, he told senators that to believe otherwise, “you have to believe in a flat Earth”.

Harris, however, does not see China’s intentions as benign. It was also revealed that in order to counteract this, the United States may very well be installing several defensive gun position in the region as well.