Tag Archives: South China Sea

U.S., Philippines agree on five base locations under defense deal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and the Philippines have agreed on five locations for U.S. military bases in the Philippines under a security agreement inked amid rising tensions with China in the South China Sea, U.S. officials said on Friday.

The U.S. State Department named the five as Antonio Bautista Air Base, Basa Air Base, Fort Magsaysay, Lumbia Air Base, and Mactan-Benito Ebuen Air Base.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Amy Searight said the deal was reached under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) signed last year that grants Washington increased military presence in its former colony through rotation of ships and planes for humanitarian and maritime security operations.

Searight told the opening of the annual U.S.-Philippines Bilateral Strategic Dialogue in Washington that Manila was a “critical U.S. ally” and ties had never been stronger.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter is set to visit the Philippines in April.

Searight also said the Pentagon had told the U.S. Congress of its intention to provide $50 million to help build maritime security in the region and that the Philippines would get “the lion’s share.”

The funds are expected to go toward improving radar and other monitoring capabilities in the South China Sea, where China’s pursuit of territorial claims has raised U.S. concerns and those of rival claimants, including the Philippines.

In January, the Philippines said it had offered eights bases for U.S. use, including the former U.S. air force base of Clark and the former U.S. Navy base at Subic Bay, and two sites on Palawan island near the South China Sea.

Philippines Defense Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino said Manila was pleased with the finalization of the locations.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel said the deal would speed U.S. help in response to natural disasters and facilitate modernization of the Philippines armed forces.

He said it came at an important time ahead of a ruling in a case the Philippines has brought against China over its South China Sea claims in the International Court of Arbitration in the Hague.

On Thursday, the U.S. Navy said it had seen activity around a reef China seized from the Philippines nearly four years ago that could be a precursor to more Chinese land reclamation in the South China Sea.

Admiral John Richardson also expressed concern that the Hague ruling, which is expected in late May, could prompt Beijing to declare an exclusion zone in what is one of the world’s busiest trade routes.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Lesley Wroughton in Washington; Editing by James Dalgleish and Grant McCool)

U.S. sees new Chinese activity around South China Sea shoal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States has seen Chinese activity around a reef China seized from the Philippines nearly four years ago that could be a precursor to more land reclamation in the disputed South China Sea, the U.S. Navy chief said on Thursday.

The head of U.S. naval operations, Admiral John Richardson, expressed concern that an international court ruling expected in coming weeks on a case brought by the Philippines against China over its South China Sea claims could be a trigger for Beijing to declare an exclusion zone in the busy trade route.

Richardson told Reuters the United States was weighing responses to such a move.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.

Richardson said the U.S. military had seen Chinese activity around Scarborough Shoal in the northern part of the Spratly archipelago, about 125 miles west of the Philippine base of Subic Bay.

“I think we see some surface ship activity and those sorts of things, survey type of activity, going on. That’s an area of concern … a next possible area of reclamation,” he said.

Richardson said it was unclear if the activity near the reef, which China seized in 2012, was related to the pending arbitration decision.

Asked about Richardson’s statement, Lu Kang, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said it was hypocritical for the United States to criticize China for militarizing the region when it carries out its own naval patrols there.

“This is really laughable and preposterous,” he said.

The Philippine foreign ministry said it had yet to receive a report about Chinese activity in Scarborough Shoal.

A Philippine military official who declined to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media said he was unaware of a Chinese survey ship in the area.

“China already has de facto control over the shoal since 2012 and they always have two to three coastguard ships there. We are also monitoring their activities and movements,” the official told reporters.

Richardson said China’s pursuit of South China Sea territory, which has included massive land reclamation to create artificial islands elsewhere in the Spratlys, threatened to reverse decades of open access and introduce new “rules” that required countries to obtain permission before transiting those waters.

He said that was a worry given that 30 percent of the world’s trade passes through the region.

Asked whether China could respond to the ruling by the court of arbitration in The Hague by declaring an air defense identification zone, or ADIZ, as it did to the north, in the East China Sea, in 2013, Richardson said: “It’s definitely a concern.

“We will just have to see what happens,” he said. “We think about contingencies and … responses.”

Richardson said the United States planned to continue carrying out freedom-of-navigation exercises within 12 nautical miles of disputed South China Sea geographical features to underscore its concerns about keeping sea lanes open.

JOINT PATROLS?

The United States responded to the East China Sea ADIZ by flying B-52 bombers through the zone in a show of force in November 2013.

Richardson said he was struck by how China’s increasing militarization of the South China Sea had increased the willingness of other countries in the region to work together.

India and Japan have joined the U.S. Navy in the Malabar naval exercise since 2014, and were due to take part again this year in an even more complex exercise that will take place in an area close to the East and South China Seas.

South Korea, Japan and the United States were also working together more closely than ever before, he said.

Richardson said the United States would welcome the participation of other countries in joint patrols in the South China Sea, but those decisions needed to be made by the countries in question.

He said the U.S. military saw good opportunities to build and rebuild relationships with countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines and India, which have all realized the importance of safeguarding the freedom of the seas.

He cited India’s recent hosting of an international fleet review that included 75 ships from 50 navies, and said the United States was exploring opportunities to increase its use of ports in the Philippines and Vietnam, among others – including the former U.S. naval base at Vietnam’s Cam Ranh Bay.

But he said Washington needed to proceed judiciously rather than charging in “very fast and very heavy,” given the enormous influence and importance of the Chinese economy in the region.

“We have to be sophisticated in how we approach this so that we don’t force any of our partners into an uncomfortable position where they have to make tradeoffs that are not in their best interest,” he said.

“We would hope to have an approach that would … include us a primary partner but not necessarily to the exclusion of other partners in the region.”

(Additional reporting by Neil Jerome Morales in Manila and Megha Rajagopalan in Beijing; Editing by Peter Cooney and Nick Macfie)

China able to project ‘substantial offensive power’ in South China Sea in months

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – China will be able to project “substantial offensive military power” from artificial islands it has built in the South China Sea’s disputed Spratly Islands within months, the director of U.S. national intelligence said.

In a Feb. 23 letter to John McCain, chair of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, James Clapper said Chinese land reclamation and construction work in the Spratlys had established infrastructure needed “to project military capabilities in the South China Sea beyond that which is required for point defense of its outposts.”

“Based on the pace and scope of construction at these outposts, China will be able to deploy a range of offensive and defensive military capabilities and support increased PLAN and CCG presence beginning in 2016,” Clapper said in the letter released this week, using acronyms for the Chinese navy and coastguard.

“Once these facilities are completed by the end of 2016 or early 2017, China will have significant capacity to quickly project substantial offensive military power to the region,” Clapper added.

The United States has voiced concerns about China’s assertive pursuit of territory in the South China Sea. The sea is one of the world’s busiest trade routes and regional countries have rival claims, creating a potential flashpoint.

Visiting Washington in September, Chinese President Xi Jinping responded to U.S. worries by saying that China had no intention to militarize its outposts in the Spratlys.

Beijing has said their military roles will be defensive, but the head of the U.S. Pacific Command said last month China was “clearly militarizing” the South China Sea with the aim of achieving East Asian hegemony.

The text of Clapper’s letter in response to questions from McCain was published on the news portal of the U.S. Naval Institute. U.S. officials confirmed the content.

Clapper said that while the United States had yet to observe deployment of significant Chinese military capabilities in the Spratlys, it had built facilities able to support them, including modern fighter aircraft.

China had already installed military radars at Cuarteron and Fiery Cross Reefs, and the infrastructure could also allow for the deployment surface-to-air missiles, coastal defense cruise missiles and an increased presence of warships, he said.

The United States had not seen Chinese air force activity in the Spratlys, but warships had stopped at its outposts including a guided-missile frigate and a guided-missile destroyer in December and January, Clapper said.

He said tank-landing ships had been employed widely in construction work and the landing of civil aircraft at Fiery Cross Reef in January showed the airstrip there was operational and able to accommodate all Chinese military aircraft.

Clapper said China continued its land reclamation in the Spratlys after Aug. 5, when its foreign minister claimed that it had been halted.

While there was no evidence that China has plans for any significant additional land reclamation in the Spratlys, Clapper said there was sufficient reef area in the Spratlys for it to reclaim more than 1,000 additional acres (400 hectares).

The Pentagon has said that Beijing has sought to bolster its claim to nearly all of the South China Sea with island building projects in the Spratlys that have reclaimed more than 2,900 acres (1,170 hectares) of land since 2013.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; addtional reportng by Mark Hosenball; Editing by Alan Crosby)

U.S. in talks to base long-range bombers near South China Sea

SYDNEY/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is in talks to base long-range bombers in Australia, U.S. defense officials said, within striking distance of the disputed South China Sea, a move that could inflame tensions with China.

The deployments could include B-1 bombers and an expansion of B-52 bomber missions, said Lt. Col. Damien Pickart, a spokesman for the U.S. Air Force in the Pacific, stressing that discussions were continuing and no decisions had yet been reached.

“These bomber rotations provide opportunities for our Airmen to advance and strengthen our regional alliances and provide (Pacific Air Forces) and U.S. Pacific Command leaders with a credible global strike and deterrence capability to help maintain peace and security in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region,” said Pickart.

The United States does not currently fly B-1 bombers from Australia, but does conduct periodic B-52 missions.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declined to comment on the discussions.

“I can just assure you that everything we do in this area is very carefully determined to ensure that our respective military forces work together as closely as possible in our mutual national interests,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

Should an agreement be reached, it would position further U.S. military aircraft close to the disputed South China Sea and risk angering China, analysts said.

“China will see it in the context of the (Australian Defence) White Paper which they have already mentioned that they expressed a certain degree of dissatisfaction,” said Euan Graham, director of the International Security Program at Sydney-based think tank, the Lowy Institute.

China’s Foreign Ministry expressed concern.

“Cooperation among relevant counties should protect regional peace and stability, and not target the interests of third parties,” spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news briefing.

Australia last month committed to increase defense spending by nearly $22 billion, seeking to protect its strategic and trade interests in the Asia-Pacific as the United States and its allies grapple with China’s rising power.

The potential stationing of B-1 bombers in Australia was raised by U.S. officials last year, but Australia’s then Defence Minister said they had misspoken.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea, but Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have overlapping claims.

Tensions between the U.S. and China have been inflamed in recent weeks.

The U.S. Navy has carried out freedom of navigation exercises, sailing and flying near disputed islands to underscore its rights to operate in the seas.

Those patrols, and reports that China is deploying advanced missiles, fighters and radar equipment on islands there, have led Washington and Beijing to trade accusations of militarizing the region.

General Lori Robinson, talking to reporters in Canberra, said the U.S. would continue to conduct exercises through the disputed waterway, while calling on Australia to conduct similar freedom of navigation exercises.

“We would encourage anybody in the region and around the world to fly and sail in international air space in accordance with international rules and norms” the Australian Broadcasting Corporation quoted Robinson as saying.

(Reporting by Colin Packham in Sydney and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Additional reporting by Jessica Macy Yu in Beijing; Editing by Bernard Orr and Lincoln Feast)

U.S. plans naval exercises with India and Japan near South China Sea

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India, the United States and Japan will hold naval exercises in waters off the northern Philippines near the South China Sea this year, the U.S. military said on Wednesday, a move likely to further raise tensions with China.

The announcement comes a day after the United States warned China against militarization of the South China Sea, where Beijing is locked in a territorial dispute with several countries, saying there would be consequences.

Last year, India and the United States expanded their annual naval drills in the Bay of Bengal to include Japan after a gap of eight years, in a move seen as a response to China’s growing assertiveness in the region.

Admiral Harry B. Harris, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, said the naval exercise will be held in the northern Philippine Sea and that Japan will take part.

Freedom of the seas was a fundamental right of all nations, he told a security conference in New Delhi, adding some thinly veiled criticism of Beijing.

“While some countries seek to bully smaller nations through intimidation and coercion, I note with admiration India’s example of peaceful resolution of disputes with your neighbors in the waters of the Indian Ocean, ” he said.

Asked about the drills, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said: “We hope the cooperation of relevant countries will benefit regional peace and security, and not harm the interests of third parties”.

Tensions in the South China Sea have risen recently, with the United States and others protesting against Beijing’s land reclamations in the Spratly islands, along with the recent deployment of surface-to-air missiles and fighter jets in the Paracel Islands.

Along with China and the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims on the waters, through which about $5 trillion in trade is shipped every year.

Harris said the United States wished to expand the naval exercises it held with India each year into joint operations across the Asia-Pacific, which could draw India into the row in the South China Sea.

The two countries have held talks on joint naval patrols and last month a U.S. defense official told Reuters that these could include the South China Sea.

Both India and the United States later said these patrols were not imminent after Beijing warned that interference from countries outside the region threatens peace and stability.

Harris said it was up to the leaders of India and the United States to decide where to hold the joint operations.

(Additional reporting by Jessice Macy Yu in BEIJING; Editing by Dominic Evans and Simon Cameron-Moore)

Philippine officials say China blocked access to disputed South China Sea atoll

By Manuel Mogato

MANILA (Reuters) – China sent several ships to a disputed atoll in the South China Sea, preventing Filipino fishermen from accessing traditional fishing grounds and raising tensions in the volatile region, Philippine officials said on Wednesday.

China had sent as many as seven ships to Quirino Atoll, also known as Jackson Atoll, in recent weeks, said Eugenio Bito-onon Jr, the mayor of nearby Pagasa Island in the Spratly Islands.

The Spratlys are the most contested archipelago in the South China Sea, a resource-rich region and critical shipping lane linking North Asia to Europe, South Asia and the Middle East.

“This is very alarming, Quirino is on our path when we travel from Palawan to Pagasa. It is halfway and we normally stop there to rest,” Bito-onon told Reuters.

“I feel something different. The Chinese are trying to choke us by putting an imaginary checkpoint there. It is a clear violation of our right to travel, impeding freedom of navigation,” he said.

In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China’s Ministry of Transport had sent vessels to tow a grounded foreign ship and they had since left the surrounding waters.

“To guarantee safety of navigation and of work conditions, China urged fishing vessels near the site to leave,” Hong said, adding that China had indisputable sovereignty over the atoll.

The Philippines Foreign Ministry said Chinese coast guard vessels had been seen at the atoll two weeks ago but were not in the area on Wednesday.

“The Department is monitoring reports on the situation on the ground and reiterates its call for China to exercise self-restraint from the conduct of activities that could complicate or escalate disputes in the South China Sea and affect peace and stability in the region,” the ministry said in a statement.

TENSIONS ON THE RISE

Earlier, the Philippine military said it was looking into the situation around Jackson Atoll, where a Chinese warship allegedly fired warning shots at Filipino fishermen in 2011.

“We know there are Chinese ships moving around the Spratly area,” spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla told Reuters. “There are also ships around Second Thomas Shoal, so we want to make sure if the presence is permanent.”

A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said it was trying to confirm the latest reported incident.

Mark Toner told a regular news briefing that the United States, a treaty ally of the Philippines that has repeatedly expressed concerns about Beijing’s methods in pursuit of maritime claims, did not want to China using its ships “to intimidate … fishing vessels in that region.”

Second Thomas Shoal is where the Philippine navy has been occupying and reinforcing a rusting ship it ran aground in 1999 to bolster its claims to the disputed reef.

A military source from Palawan said a surveillance plane had seen four to five ships in the vicinity of Jackson Atoll last week.

“There are no indications China will build structures or develop it into an island,” said the source, who was not authorized to speak to the media about the South China Sea.

The Philippines Star newspaper, which earlier reported the story, quoted an unidentified fisherman as saying Chinese boats chased them away when they tried to enter the area last week.

Along with China and the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims on the waters, through which about $5 trillion in trade is shipped every year.

Tensions have been building recently, with the United States and others expressing concerns about China’s land reclamation in the Spratly Islands and deployment of surface-to-air missiles and fighter jets in the Paracel Islands.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter warned China on Tuesday against what he called “aggressive” actions in the region, saying there would be “specific consequences” to militarization of the South China Sea.

In response, Hong urged Washington on Wednesday to “stop exaggerating and sensationalizing” the issue.

For its part, Beijing has been angered by “freedom of navigation” air and sea patrols the United States has conducted near the islands it claims in the South China Sea and says it needs military facilities for its self defense.

(Additional reporting by Michael Martina and Adam Rose in Beijing and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Writing by Lincoln Feast and John Chalmers; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Peter Cooney)

China’s militarization of South China Sea will have consequences, Carter says

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Tuesday warned China against what he called “aggressive” actions in the South China Sea region, including the placement of surface-to-air missiles on a disputed island, and said they would have consequences.

“China must not pursue militarization in the South China Sea,” Carter said in a wide-ranging speech at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. “Specific actions will have specific consequences.”

He did not elaborate, but underscored the U.S. military’s determination to safeguard maritime security around the world, and particularly in the South China Sea region, which sees about 30 percent of the world’s trade transit its waters each year.

The U.S. defense chief also took aim at both Russia and China for their actions to limit Internet access, as well as state-sponsored cyber threats, cyber espionage and cyber crime.

In his prepared remarks, Carter drew a sharp contrast between such behavior by Russia and China and what he described as much healthier U.S. actions to preserve Internet freedom.

“We don’t desire conflict with either country,” he said. “But we also cannot blind ourselves to their apparent goals and actions.”

He urged cooperation with U.S. technology companies to ensure data security and necessary encryption levels, despite growing controversy over the FBI’s request to circumvent security features on an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino, California, shooters.

Carter, on his third visit to the technology-heavy Silicon Valley since taking office a year ago, said he could not address the case specifically since it was under litigation, but made clear that the Defense Department viewed encryption as a necessary part of data security.

“It’s important to take a step back here, because future policy shouldn’t be driven by any one particular case,” Carter said in what appeared to be a departure from the Justice Department’s view.

Carter noted that the Defense Department is the largest user of encryption in the world and needed it to be as strong as possible.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

China says it ‘really needs’ South China Sea defenses in face of U.S. push

BEIJING (Reuters) – China “really needs” its defenses in the South China Sea in the face of a militarization process being pushed by the United States, and can deploy whatever equipment it wants on its own soil, China’s Defence Ministry said on Thursday.

China and the United States have sparred repeatedly over the past week following reports China is deploying advanced missiles, fighters and radar equipment on islands in the South China Sea, especially on Woody Island in the Paracels.

The United States has accused China of militarizing the disputed waters. Beijing, for its part, has been angered by “freedom of navigation” air and sea patrols the United States has conducted near islands China claims in the South China Sea.

Those have included one by two B-52 strategic bombers in November and by a U.S. Navy destroyer that sailed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island in the Paracels last month.

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

“China’s construction of military facilities on the islands and reefs of the South China Sea is really needed.”

The Paracel Islands are China’s “inherent territory”, he added.

“It is China’s legitimate right to deploy defense facilities within our own territory, no matter in the past or at present, no matter temporarily or permanently, no matter what equipment it is,” Wu said.

People are being “dazzled” by the endless hyping up by U.S. media of equipment China is deploying in the South China Sea, he added.

“One minute it’s air defense missiles, then radars, then various types of aircraft – who knows what tomorrow will bring in terms of new equipment being hyped up.”

Even the Americans have said some of this equipment had been placed there in the past, Wu said.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.

This week, coinciding with a visit to Washington by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Admiral Harry Harris, head of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Command, said the U.S. would step up freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea and that China was trying to militarily dominate East Asia.

Wu said the U.S. was employing double standards, asking why U.S. patrols in the South China Sea should not also be considered militarization.

There has been speculation that China might declare an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the South China Sea, similar to one it declared over the East China Sea in late 2013, to anger from Japan and the United States.

Asked if this was the case, Wu repeated the ministry’s previous line that it had every right to do so, but the move would depend on the level of aerial threat China faced.

“There are all sorts of factors that need consideration,” Wu said, without elaborating.

In Hanoi, a Vietnamese official said the militarization of the South China Sea was a very serious issue.

“Irrespective of the opposition and concern voiced by Vietnam and the international community, China continues to take actions that not only violate Vietnam’s sovereignty, accelerate militarization of the East Sea, but also threaten peace and stability,” foreign media spokesman Le Hai Binh told a briefing, employing the name Vietnam uses for the South China Sea.

Annual trade between the communist neighbors exceeds $60 billion, but anti-China sentiment is strong in Vietnam, where people are embittered over what many see as a history of Chinese bullying and territorial infringements in the South China Sea.

(Additional reporting by Martin Petty in HANOI; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

U.S. to boost freedom of navigation moves in South China Sea, admiral says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States, which is worried by China’s military buildup to assert dominance in the South China Sea, will increase freedom-of-navigation operations there, a senior Pentagon official said on Wednesday.

“We will be doing them more, and we’ll be doing them with greater complexity in the future and … we’ll fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows,” Admiral Harry Harris, head of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Command, told a House Armed Services Committee hearing.

“We must continue to operate in the South China Sea to demonstrate that that water space and the air above it is international,” Harris said.

On Tuesday, Harris said China was “changing the operational landscape” in the South China Sea by deploying missiles and radar as part of an effort to militarily dominate East Asia.

China is “clearly militarizing the South China Sea … You’d have to believe in a flat Earth to think otherwise,” Harris said in comments that coincided with a visit to Washington by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

China says its military facilities in the South China Sea are “legal and appropriate” and on Tuesday, in an apparent reference to U.S. patrols, Wang said Beijing hoped not to see more close-up reconnaissance, or the dispatch of missile destroyers or strategic bombers.

Harris, asked what more could be done to deter militarization, said the United States could deploy more naval assets, although there were significant “fiscal, diplomatic and political hurdles” in the way of stationing a second aircraft carrier group in the region.

“We could consider putting another (attack) submarine out there, we could put additional destroyers forward …there are a lot of things we could do, short of putting a full carrier strike group in the Western Pacific,” he said.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.

Harris’s comments came a day after he said China had deployed surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island in the South China Sea’s Paracel chain and radars on Cuarteron Reef in the Spratly islands further to the south.

On Tuesday, his command said China’s repeated deployment of advanced fighter aircraft to Woody Island was part of a disturbing trend that was inconsistent with Beijing’s commitment to avoid actions that could escalate disputes.

Last month, a U.S. Navy destroyer carried out a patrol within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island in the Paracels, a move China called provocative.

The United States has also conducted sea and air patrols near artificial islands China has built in the Spratlys, including by two B-52 strategic bombers in November.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali; additional reporting by David Brunnstrom and Clarece Polke; Editing by Susan Heavey and James Dalgleish)

China gearing up for East Asia dominance, U.S. commander says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – China is “changing the operational landscape” in the South China Sea by deploying missiles and radar as part of an effort to militarily dominate East Asia, a senior U.S. military official said on Tuesday.

China is “clearly militarising the South China (Sea),” said Admiral Harry Harris, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, adding: “You’d have to believe in a flat Earth to think otherwise.”

Harris said he believed China’s deployment of surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island in the South China Sea’s Paracel chain, new radars on Cuarteron Reef in the Spratlys and its building of airstrips were “actions that are changing in my opinion the operational landscape in the South China Sea.”

Soon after he spoke, U.S. government sources confirmed that China recently deployed fighter jets to Woody Island. It was not the first time Beijing sent jets there but it raised new questions about its intentions.

U.S. Navy Captain Darryn James, spokesman for U.S. Pacific Command, said China’s repeated deployment of advanced fighter aircraft to Woody Island continued a disturbing trend.

“These destabilising actions are inconsistent with the commitment by China and all claimants to exercise restraint from actions that could escalate disputes,” he said. “That’s why we’ve called for all claimants to stop land reclamation, stop construction and stop militarization in the South China Sea.”

But U.S. and Chinese foreign ministers signalled that despite disagreements over the South China Sea, they were near agreement on a U.N. resolution against North Korea for its recent nuclear and missile tests and stressed their cooperation on economic and other issues.

‘HEGEMONY IN EAST ASIA’

Speaking before the meeting in Washington between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Harris said China was escalating the situation in the South China Sea with new deployments. Asked about its aims, he said: “I believe China seeks hegemony in East Asia.”

Responding to another question, Harris said Chinese DF-21 and DF-26 anti-ship missiles could pose a threat to U.S. aircraft carriers, but added the vessels were resilient and that the United States had “the capability to do what has to be done if it comes to that.”

Harris also said he supported regular U.S. air and naval patrols to assert freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, a vital waterway through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year.

At a news conference with Kerry, Wang said there had been no problems with freedom of navigation and China and countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – several of which have competing claims with China – “have the capability to maintain stability in the South China Sea.”

He said militarization was not the responsibility of one party alone and added in apparent reference to U.S. patrols: “We don’t hope to see any more close-up military reconnaissance, or the dispatch of missile destroyers or strategic bombers to the South China Sea.”

‘ESCALATORY CYCLE’

Kerry said steps by China, Vietnam and others had created an “escalatory cycle.”

“What we are trying to do it break that cycle,” he said.

“Regrettably there are missiles and fighter aircraft and guns and other things that have been placed into the South China Sea and this is of great concern to everyone who transits and relies on the South China Sea for peaceful trade,” he added.

A U.S. think tank reported on Monday that China may be installing a high-frequency radar system on the Cuarteron Reef in the Spratly Islands that could significantly boost its ability to control the strategic sea.

Last Thursday, the United States accused China of raising tensions by its apparent deployment of surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island. China has also built military-length airstrips on artificial islands in the South China Sea.

China’s Foreign Ministry said ahead of Wang’s visit that Beijing’s military deployments in the South China Sea were no different from U.S. deployments on Hawaii.

China’s Ministry of Defense said on its microblog on Tuesday that China had established “necessary defensive facilities” that were “legal and appropriate.”

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Additional reporting by Phil Stewart, Andrea Shalal, Roberta Rampton and Mark Hosenball; Editing by Frances Kerry, Tom Brown and Peter Cooney)