A US regional naval chief has warned of growing strategic uncertainty in the western Pacific, saying the 'winds of change are blowing hard' - a thinly veiled reference to Beijing's rising military power.
Vice-Admiral John Bird (pictured), the departing commander of the Japanese-based US 7th Fleet, said that a peaceful status quo was 'far from guaranteed' amid growing high-stakes challenges.
'It is not all clear sailing ahead ...We find ourselves today at a pivotal juncture in the western Pacific,' he said in a strongly worded speech on Friday at the fleet's base in Yokosuka to hand command over to Vice-Admiral Scott Van Buskirk after more than two years heading the core projection of US power in Asia.
'In this remarkable period of change and in an environment of anti-access strategies and excess territorial claims, America's stabilising influence and respect for international law will be critical,' Bird said.
'Our allies will depend on the US to be fully present in the Asia-Pacific region as a promoter of stability and to ensure the free flow of commerce for all.'
Bird did not mention China by name, but his references to access and territory will not be lost in Beijing or in an East Asia increasingly wary of Beijing's growing assertiveness.
US defence officials have expressed repeated concerns at Beijing's increasingly strident objections to long-standing US military operations in East Asia, such as exercises with South Korea in the Yellow Sea as well as its development of ballistic missiles with manoeuvrable warheads designed to strike aircraft carriers - the traditional symbol of US military authority in the region.
