By Franz-Stefan Gady
Meanwhile, Japan’s Ministry of Defense has published its own analysis on China’s South China Sea building activities.
Should China use the artificial islands it has built for military purposes, all of the South China Sea could be “covered by China’s sphere of military influence,” the commander of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Forces (JMSDF), Admiral Tomohisa Takei, warned in a speech delivered this Wednesday at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.
While calling for increased maritime cooperation in the region, Takei emphasized that problems between countries must be solved by peaceful means, international law and norms. “If one country ignores this and imposes its own interpretation of international law on its neighboring countries, freedom of navigation which is indispensable for an ocean of prosperity is threatened and unexpected incident at sea can occur as a result,” he added.
Deliberating on the U.S. presence in the region, he evaded a reporter’s question about whether Japan and the United States would conduct joint South China Sea naval patrols in the foreseeable future. However, he was adamant in arguing that a “U.S. presence is required for now and in the foreseeable future for peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.” Additionally, he emphasized that the South China Sea should remain “free and open waters.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat