By Prashanth Parameswaran
Admiral Kawano sees a worrying future as Beijing seeks to expand its regional reach.
China’s assertiveness in Asia could worsen in the future as Beijing seeks to expand its regional reach, Japan’s top military commander Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano said Thursday.
“My sense is that this trend will continue into the future where China will go beyond the island chain in the Pacific. So if anything, I believe the situation would worsen,” Kawano said in translated remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
In the South China Sea specifically, Kawano noted that at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue this year, which he attended, the Chinese representative did not deny that China would consider more provocative actions in the future, like using the artificial islands it has built for military purposes or establishing an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) just like it did over the East China Sea in 2013 (See: Confronting China’s ‘New’ Military Challenge in the South China Sea).
“The representative from China did not deny the possibility of declaring an ADIZ in the South China Sea. The representative also did not deny the possibility [that] the man-made islands… could be used for military purposes as well,” he said.
Read the full story at The Diplomat