‘We’ll be ready to confront’: US warns ‘aggressive’ Beijing in South China Sea
The United States will keep challenging Beijing’s “assertive, aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea”, the US Pacific commander said on Wednesday, as tensions between two powers rise over comments by Donald Trump.
Admiral Harry Harris, head of the US Pacific Command, warned Washington would not accept Chinese control of the region, despite Beijing’s rapid development of artificial islands capable of hosting military planes.
Watch: China warns Trump on Taiwan comments
We will cooperate where we can but we will be ready to confront where we must
He remarks come as Beijing reacted angrily after Trump, the US President-elect, broke convention by speaking directly to Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen – and suggested Washington could jettison Washington’s decades-old “One China policy”.
The “One China policy” is a diplomatic compromise allowing the US to do business with both China and Taiwan while only recognising Beijing diplomatically.
“We will not allow the shared domains to be closed down unilaterally, no matter how many bases are built on artificial features in the South China Sea,” Harris said.
“We will cooperate where we can but we will be ready to confront where we must.”
