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| Admiral Harry Harris (Image: Wikipedia) |
By David Larter, Navy Times
China is building military capabilities in the South China Sea that are escalating the tense standoff in the region, the head of U.S. Pacific Command told lawmakers Tuesday.
"In my opinion China is clearly militarizing the South China Sea," said PACOM head Adm. Harry Harris, in a Tuesday hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. "You’d have to believe in a flat earth to believe otherwise."
The harsh assessment from the military's top commander in the Pacific comes on the heals of a wave of reports of increasing Chinese capabilities on disputed islands. Last week, satellite images showed China had installed a surface-to-air missile battery on the Paracel Islands near Vietnam. And on Monday, reports surfaced that China is installing a high-tech air search radar that may be capable of detecting U.S. stealth aircraft on one of its man-made islands in the Spratly Islands.
Harris said he needed the U.S. Navy to invest in next-generation anti-surface missiles to counter potential rivals like China who are rapidly building their capabilities, saying the Navy was still using the same weapons it has had since he was a junior officer.
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