US appeals to China over sea militarization

WASHINGTON – The White House on Friday urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to extend his pledge not to militarize the disputed Spratly Islands to encompass all of the South China Sea.

Dan Kritenbrink, President Barack Obama’s top Asia advisor, issued the call at the end of a week in which China and the United States have sparred over Chinese deployment of missiles, fighter planes and radar on islands in

the contested strategic waterway.

Xi had pledged during a US state visit last September not to militarize the Spratly archipelago, which is claimed by Manila and Beijing, but US officials have since said they see military intent in China’s building of air strips and installation of radar there.

Friction has increased over China’s recent deployment of surface-to-air missiles and fighter jets to Woody Island in the disputed Paracel chain. It has been under Chinese control for more than 40 years but is also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam.

“We think it would be good if that non-militarization pledge, if he (Xi) would extend that across the South China Sea,” Kritenbrink told a conference at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “We’re going to encourage our Chinese friends and other countries in the region to refrain from taking steps that raise tensions.”

Admiral Harry Harris, head of the US Pacific Command, said this week China was “changing the operational landscape” in the South China Sea and the United States would increase freedom- ofnavigations patrols. His congressional testimony coincided with a US visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

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

Kritenbrink also reiterated that China should respect an international court ruling expected later this year on its dispute with the Philippines over the South China Sea.

China, which claims virtually all the South China Sea, is facing an arbitration case filed by Manila. Beijing rejects the authority of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, even though it has ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on which the case is based.

“When that ruling comes out, it will be binding on both parties,” Kritenbrink said. “That will be an important moment that all of us in the region should focus on.”

Increased freedom of navigation moves

At a hearing of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee last Wednesday, Harris said the US will will increase freedom- ofnavigation operations in the South China Sea.

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

Wang met with US national security adviser Susan Rice on Wednesday and they “candidly discussed” maritime issues, the White House said in a statement. Rice emphasized strong US support for freedom of navigation and urged China to address regional concerns, the statement said.

China’s official Xinhua news agency said of the meeting that both countries believed all sides should work hard to maintain the peace and stability of the South China Sea.

“The South China Sea issue should be resolved via dialogue and peaceful means,”

Xinhua added. 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’ 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 Calderon ( 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 US 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 artifi cial islands China has built in the Spratlys, including by two B-52 strategic bombers in November.