There is growing concern on Capitol Hill over a new flashpoint and Beijing’s increasing militarization of the South China Sea.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker on Wednesday called on US President Barack Obama to be “more strident” with China.
During a hearing on US-China relations both Democratic and Republican senators indicated support for more freedom of navigation patrols to limit Beijing from claiming control of trade routes.
Photo: Reuters / Planet Labs
Senator Marco Rubio asked US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken if China was consistently pursuing a long-term strategy with the goal of gaining effective control of the entire South China Sea.
“Yes, I think that is China’s objective,” Blinken said.
Rubio said China was pursuing its “nine-dash-line” position, citing a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article that said the Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) had emerged as a new flashpoint.
“There are far more downsides than upsides in the US-China relationship over these last days,” Corker said. “Regrettably, as the strategic challenges increase the opportunities for positive engagement diminish.”
There was no denying that China had positioned itself as a geopolitical rival to the US and it was even more troubling that the Obama administration did not seem to have a coherent China policy, he said.
“In the South China Sea, neither the rhetoric nor the freedom of navigation operations have deterred or slowed down China’s reclamation activities, including the stationing of military-related assets on these artificial islands,” Corker said.
Many experts have said that it is increasingly likely that Beijing would soon declare an air defense identification zone in the South China Sea and could undertake “further destabilizing actions” if an international tribunal ruled against Chinese interests, he said.
There was a sense that the Obama administration was just “managing differences” with China and that the committee felt that coherent policy was missing, he said.
The relationship with China is still the most important relationship the US has, but committee members hope “the administration will be more strident in their actions and more clear over time [as to] what the overall strategy is,” Corker said.
Democratic Senator Robert Menendez said the US needed to take a stronger stance, adding that US instruments of national power “are only useful when they are fully deployed.”
Blinken told the committee that the US was not a claimant to the territorial and maritime disputes in the South China Sea, but had a clear national interest in the way claims were pursued.
All claims must uphold freedom of navigation, respect for international law and the peaceful resolution of disputes, he said.
“We oppose the use of force or the threat to use force to advance maritime or territorial claims and we call on all parties in the South China Sea — not just China — to resolve disputes in a peaceful manner,” he said.
According to the WSJ article, the US military has observed Chinese ships conducting survey work around the Scarborough Shoal and had flown three air patrols near the shoal in recent days to signal its concern.
“There is growing concern among US and Philippine officials that Beijing plans to begin work at the shoal, possibly in response to a ruling on its territorial claims by an arbitration panel in The Hague, expected this summer,” the newspaper said.
Tropical Storm Gaemi strengthened into a typhoon at 2pm yesterday, and could make landfall in Yilan County tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The agency was scheduled to issue a sea warning at 11:30pm yesterday, and could issue a land warning later today. Gaemi was moving north-northwest at 4kph, carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of up to 118.8kph and gusts of 154.8kph. The circumference is forecast to reach eastern Taiwan tomorrow morning, with the center making landfall in Yilan County later that night before departing from the north coast, CWA weather forecaster Kuan Shin-ping (官欣平) said yesterday. Uncertainty remains and
SEA WARNING LIKELY: The storm, named Gaemi, could become a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, with the Taipei City Government preparing for flooding A tropical depression east of the Philippines developed into a tropical storm named Gaemi at 2pm yesterday, and was moving toward eastern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Gaemi could begin to affect Taiwan proper on Tuesday, lasting until Friday, and could develop into a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, it said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued as early as Tuesday morning, it added. Gaemi, the third tropical storm in the Pacific Ocean this typhoon season, is projected to begin moving northwest today, and be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday, the agency said. Today, there would likely
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