US President Barack Obama’s much-hyped “pivot” to the Pacific, supposedly
shifting U.S. foreign policy and military focus away from the Middle
East to face the emerging strategic challenges posed by China, has, so
far, not amounted to much: a few hundred Marines stationed in Australia,
ramped-up military exercises with the Philippines, more bombers
deployed to Guam.
U.S. warships and aircraft may soon be crisscrossing the South China
Sea, deliberately ignoring the 12-nautical-mile lines that could be
claimed as territorial waters should Beijing attempt to assert full
sovereignty over the islands it is creating from reefs and rocks,
according to senior defence officials.
Predictably, Beijing has responded with its own tough talk.
“Freedom of navigation certainly does not mean that foreign military ships and aircraft can enter another country’s territorial waters or airspace at will,” Hua Chunying, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said in response to reports that Defence Secretary Ash Carter had ordered up options for sending U.S. warships and aircraft into the area.
Read more: Tension rising in South China Sea - The Globe and Mail
But in recent months, Mr. Obama has seemed willing to go
beyond rhetoric and symbolism. He has rallied China’s regional rivals,
reaffirmed the United States’ hard pledges to defend Pacific allies and
started to paint some red lines in the seas Beijing regards as its own.
Predictably, Beijing has responded with its own tough talk.
“Freedom of navigation certainly does not mean that foreign military ships and aircraft can enter another country’s territorial waters or airspace at will,” Hua Chunying, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said in response to reports that Defence Secretary Ash Carter had ordered up options for sending U.S. warships and aircraft into the area.
Read more: Tension rising in South China Sea - The Globe and Mail
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