China risks creating a “Great Wall of self-isolation” through its continued military expansion in the South China Sea and its hacks on US companies, Pentagon chief Ashton Carter said Friday.
Carter’s remarks came ahead of his trip next week to an Asian security summit in Singapore, where China’s actions in the contested waterway will likely dominate discussions.
“China’s actions could erect a Great Wall of self-isolation,” Carter told graduating officers at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
“Countries across the region—allies, partners, and the unaligned—are voicing concerns publicly and privately at the highest levels.”
China has in recent years dredged reefs, islets and other maritime features and built these up into larger islands capable of sustaining a military presence.
Photo credit: wikipedia.org
“China’s actions [in the South China Sea] challenge fundamental principles, and we’re not going to look the other way,” Carter said.
The United States disputes China’s sovereignty in the region and has conducted several “freedom of navigation” operations in which it deliberately sails close by the islands, attracting the ire of Beijing.
Carter also blasted Chinese cyber attacks on US companies.
“China’s cyber-actors have violated the spirit of the Internet—not to mention the law—to perpetrate large-scale intellectual property theft from American companies,” he said.
Carter’s remarks came after the Group of Seven summit in Japan where the leaders of advanced democracies said rising maritime tensions in Asia are a cause for concern and disputes should be resolved legally and peacefully.
Though no individual countries were mentioned, the contents of their declaration at the close of an annual summit appeared to be directed at China.
Beijing’s claim to nearly the entire South China Sea has angered some of its Southeast Asian neighbors and sparked fears over threats to freedom of navigation in the body of water that encompasses key global shipping lanes.
The Philippines, along with Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam also have competing claims in the expansive maritime area.
China’s ongoing militarization of islets and outcrops there has sparked broader apprehensions about the country’s growing regional might as well as its threats to back up the claims with force, if necessary.
“We are concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas, and emphasise the fundamental importance of peaceful management and settlement of disputes,” G7 leaders said.
China is also locked in a dispute with G7 host Japan over uninhabited rocky outcroppings in the East China Sea claimed by both countries.
The G7 -- the United States, Japan, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Canada -- said settlement of disputes should be “peaceful” and “freedom of navigation and overflight” should be respected.
Washington -- which has embarked on a foreign policy “pivot” towards Asia -- fears Beijing is seeking to impose military controls over the entire area.
The US military has conducted several “freedom of navigation” operations, in which planes or ships pass within a 12-nautical-mile buffer around the Chinese installations in the South China Sea, angering Beijing.
The G7 leaders also said that claims in the area should be made based on international law and countries should refrain from “unilateral actions which could increase tensions” while also avoiding “force or coercion in trying to drive their claims”.
They also stressed that judicial means “including arbitration” should be utilised.
That call came ahead of a ruling expected within weeks on China’s claims brought by the Philippines to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague. Beijing has said it does not recognise the case.
http://thestandard.com.ph/news/-main-stories/top-stories/206801/china-risks-raising-a-new-great-wall-.html
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