China trying to gain territorial space through force, US admiral says

SYDNEY — China's actions in the South China Sea are an example of it trying to gain territorial space through force, and are destabilizing the region, a senior US admiral said on Tuesday.

The Philippines and China have had a series of maritime run-ins, including water cannon use, and heated verbal exchanges that have triggered concern about an escalation at sea.

Admiral John Aquilino, Commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, said in an address to the Lowy Institute think tank in Sydney that China's actions against the Philippines, particularly in Ayungin Shoal, were "dangerous, illegal and they are destabilizing the region."

Aquilino said he was "very concerned about what is happening at Second Thomas Shoal," using another name for Ayungin Shoal, where the physical action of the Chinese coast guard and a fishing vessel had resulted in six sailors injured.

"So what's next and how far are they willing to go in that area?"

He said similar actions by China were also being seen elsewhere in the region, including in Japan and Malaysia.

"This is not isolated, this is about the PRC [People's Republic of China] trying to gain territorial space unilaterally through force," he said.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea as its territory, policed by an armada of coast guard vessels, some more than 1,000 km (620 miles) from its mainland, and has maintained its responses have been appropriate in the face of Philippine encroachment.

Aquilino said there was positive movement in the US-China relationship since the leaders of the two countries had spoken, with no concerning maritime interactions between the US and China since then.

Aquilino said he was concerned this detente was temporary, as China sought to stabilize its economy.

He also expressed concern about what he said was synchronization between Russia and China, and Russia and North Korea.

"Those sets of cooperation and the linkages are really a new world and a concern," he said.

In the Pacific Islands, he said China was exercising economic coercion, and said Australia and the US were working together to focus on increasing development assistance to the region, including the Solomon Islands which has struck a security pact with China.

"An increased military presence in that region is a direct threat to Australia as it applies to homeland defense and it doesn't put the US in a good position either," he said. — Reuters