China is behaving like a “bully” with its militarization of islands in the South China Sea — activity that Washington must confront with its allies to find a peaceful solution, US Senator John McCain said yesterday.
In a speech in Sydney, McCain said China was asserting itself globally, best illustrated by militarizing artificial islands in the South China Sea, a claim repeatedly rejected by Beijing.
“I think it is very clear that the Chinese by filling in these islands are militarizing them and that is in violation of international law,” the Arizona senator said.
Photo: AFP
McCain’s comments are set to escalate tensions between the US and China just days before delegates from both countries are scheduled to attend a regional security conference in Singapore.
China claims most of the resource-rich South China Sea, through which about US$5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam also have claims on the strategic waterway.
The US estimates Beijing has added more than 1,300 hectares of land on seven features in the South China Sea over the past three years, building runways, ports, aircraft hangars and communications equipment.
To counter the perceived Chinese aggression, the US has conducted so-called freedom-of-navigation exercises, the most recent of which was conducted by a US navy warship near Mischief Reef (Meiji Reef, 美濟礁) in the disputed Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島).
Allies such as Australia have so far refused to participate in freedom-of-navigation exercises in the fear of alienating Beijing.
McCain also described Russian President Vladimir Putin as a bigger threat to world security than the Islamic State group.
“I think he [Putin] is the premier and most important threat, more so than ISIS,” McCain said in an interview late on Monday with the Australian Broadcasting Corp, using an acronym for the militant group.
“I think ISIS can do terrible things ... but it is the Russians who are trying, who tried to destroy the very fundamental of democracy and that is to change the outcome of an American election,” he said.
“I have seen no evidence they succeeded, but they tried and they are still trying. They just tried to affect the outcome of the French election,” he added.
“So I view Vladimir Putin, who has dismembered the Ukraine, a sovereign nation, who is putting pressure on the Baltics, I view the Russians as the far greatest challenge that we have,” McCain said.
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