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| Image: Wikipedia |
By Christopher P. Cavas
China's provocative actions don't befit a great power, US commander says
WASHINGTON — “The rise of China is not a bad thing, but it’s how that power is used that is a concern to me,” the top US military officer in the Pacific said Wednesday.
Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the US Pacific Command, told a Washington audience that China’s intentions “remain clouded.” He highlighted the South China Sea land-reclamation projects that threaten to alter the balance of power in the region.
“There are five countries involved in land-reclamation projects in the last 40 years” in the South China Sea, Harris told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, “and we have called on all of them to stop.”
China’s efforts, he pointed out, “far outstrip all the others.” Harris put up a chart showing that together, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan have reclaimed 215 acres of land over the past 40 years, while China has reclaimed more than 3,000 acres in the past 18 months.
“If they are to build out all their reef projects, they will control all of the South China Sea militarily with the exception of the US,” Harris warned.
Read the full story at DefenseNews