‘US won’t be deterred by Chinese military buildup in SCS’
No amount of China’s military buildup in the South China Sea will deter the US Navy from conducting freedom of navigation operations under international law.
Rear Admiral John Fuller, USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier Strike Group 1 commander, pointed this out to foreign and local journalists over the weekend.
“We are here to reassure our allies and partners. We are here to reinforce international laws, rules and norms in the IndoPacific area,” Fuller said.
For weeks, the USS Carl Vinson Strike Group has been sailing in disputed waters of the South China Sea in what foreign defense and military analysts said is a clear response to China’s massive military buildup in the region.
Fuller noted that their presence in the disputed region is routine, as the US Navy has been operating in the South China Sea for the last 70 years.
He said there is a lot of value in this as it has actually promoted peace and stability in the area.
Having stability among the nations in the region as well as the US being a maritime state, Fuller said, allows the people from these countries to plan for their lives and allows them to understand how to work safely, professionally and properly with each other.
With the Carrier Strike Group 1’s immense capacity and capability, Fuller said, it is not only limited to the conduct of sustained combat operations but can also a launch major humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) missions at any time.
“We have immense capability and capacity to do and conduct HADR. We also provide security operations and, if necessary, as part of the command structure, we do have combat power. So we could conduct sustained combat operations if necessary,” he said.
On China’s militarization in the South China Sea, Fuller pointed out the US Navy, for its part, is operating under international law.
It is very clear, he said, the US as a matter of national policy is not taking sides in the maritime dispute in the region, but is only around to promote international laws and norms.
Six claimant states – China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei – are laying claim either in whole or in part to the vast South China Sea, believed to be sitting on huge and still untapped gas and mineral deposits.
Of all the claimant states, China has aggressively pursued its uncharted nine-dash claim that covers almost 90 percent of the entire South China Sea, a claim that encroaches into the territorial waters of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and now Indonesia.
To advance its maritime and territorial claim in the region, China has reclaimed and converted into air and naval facilities its previously occupied seven obscure maritime features in the Spratlys.
Told that China military buildup in the South China is not directed toward the Philippines but against the US out to destroy Beijing – as claimed by President Duterte – Fuller simply reiterated that the USS Carl Vinson Strike Group 1 is in the region to make sure that international rules and norms are fully observed.
He also described Chinese presence in the region as a distraction which he said will not alter the Strike Group’s mission in the region.