WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States military’s top general said on Wednesday (May 29) that Chinese President Xi Jinping reneged on promises not to militarise the South China Sea, and called for “collective action” to hold Beijing responsible.
General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he was not calling for military action, but stressed that there was a need to enforce international laws.
“The fall of 2016, President Xi Jinping promised President (Barack) Obama that they would not militarise the islands. So what we see today are 10,000 foot (3km) runways, ammunition storage facilities, routine deployment of missile defence capabilities, aviation capabilities, and so forth,” he said in a talk on US security and defence at the Brookings Institution.
“So clearly, they have walked away from that commitment.”
“The South China Sea is, in my judgment, not a pile of rocks,” he continued, referring to the series of reefs and outcrops that have been claimed as territory by China, reclaimed and expanded to accommodate military forces and large aircraft.
“What is at stake in the South China Sea and elsewhere where there are territorial claims is the rule of law, international laws, norms and standards… When we ignore actions that are not in compliance with international rules, norms and standards, we have just set a new standard,” the top US general said.
“I’m not suggesting a military response. What needs to happen… is coherent collective action to those who violate international norms and standards. They need to be held accountable in some way so that future violations are deterred.”
Washington has been frustrated by an inability to stall China’s aggressive military colonisation of the South China Sea, which rejects conflicting territorial claims by Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan and the Philippines.