US Defence Secretary James Mattis hits out at ‘predatory’ Chinese behaviour
Pentagon chief highlights Washington’s concerns about activities in South China Sea and practice of forcing smaller countries to run up significant debts
US Secretary of Defence James Mattis said Washington was highly concerned about China’s “predatory” behaviour and militarisation of the South China Sea but insisted Washington was not trying to contain the country.
Mattis was speaking en route to Vietnam, where he arrived on Tuesday to meet with officials to bolster military ties between Hanoi – which has its own competing claims in the South China Sea – and Washington.
His comments followed the speech made by Vice-President Mike Pence on October 4 that laid out US grievances with China.
Mattis, a former general, highlighted not only US concerns about the disputed waters, but also Beijing’s piling of unnecessary debt on smaller countries to pay for Chinese-funded infrastructure projects.
“We remain highly concerned with the continued militarisation of features in the South China Sea,” he said, saying that this continued to happen despite a pledge by President Xi Jinping not to do so.
He continued that “we look at the – what we consider to be almost predatory, in some cases certainly predatory – economic behaviour” of China, which was encouraging smaller countries to pile on “massive debt” that “fiscal analysis would say they are going to have difficulty, at best, repaying”.
But Mattis said the US wanted a relationship with China grounded in fairness, reciprocity and “respect for international rules and for all nations’ sovereignty, whether they’re large or small”.
“We’re not out to contain China,” he added.