US Cabinet pick faults China in hearing
Defense secretary nominee accuses Beijing of ‘shredding trust’ in region
The United States will have to manage its competition with China, said James Mattis, president-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of defense, at his confirmation hearing on Thursday.
Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Mattis also said the world order is under “the biggest attack since World War II”, and he blamed Russia and China’s activities in the South China Sea and international terrorist organizations for its destabilization.
He also described China as “shredding trust along its periphery”.
As it is possible to see more competitive military moves to be taken by the US in the South China Sea to challenge China this year, Beijing should boost combat readiness and strengthen crisis management with Washington to prevent an arms race there, observers said.
Mattis singled out China’s activities in the South China Sea at a time in which the Pentagon continues to question what Beijing has called “necessary defense facilities” deployed on the islands there.
US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, as he did last year, blamed China on Wednesday as seeking self-isolation in the region.
In response, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters on Friday that certain countries outside the region still cannot let go of their ill-founded perceptions and are themselves “increasingly isolated” though they say that about others.
This month, the Philippines officially stated its plan of not putting the South China Sea issue into the agenda of ASEAN meetings it will host later this year.
Liang Fang, a professor of naval studies at PLA National Defense University, said that as other countries involved in the South China Sea disputes have returned to bilateral talks with Beijing, “the US will not easily let this go, and it will attempt to show its muscles and influence in the region again later this year”.
Washington’s strategy of containing China will not be changed, and “its troublemaking moves in the waters there will only get tougher,” Liang said.
It is possible that US warships and military aircraft will again intrude on the territorial waters and airspace of the Chinese islands in the sea, and, China, in response, should maintain its ships and planes in combat readiness, Liang added.
Zhang Tuosheng, director of the research department at the China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies, noted that animosity against China’s rising maritime strength dies hard among the US and its allies such as Japan, and it will continue to pose a security dilemma for China.
While Beijing should never embark on a maritime arms race with Washington, China will have to tackle “its insufficient research and use of international law, particularly international maritime law”, Zhang said.