NEW DELHI: The US today expressed concern over China’s “provocative” and “dramatic” tactics in the South China Sea and said the American navy will shift 60 per cent of its maritime assets to the Pacific by 2020.
However, it underlined that the “rebalance” to the Asia and Pacific was not aimed at China but for its own economic growth.
Referring to China’s ongoing territorial dispute with countries like Brunei, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam over the South China Sea, a top Pentagon official said it was provocative.
“And it causes tensions to be raised in the South China Sea with all the other countries in the region. I am concerned about it. I think it is an issue of concern for all of us,” Commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Admiral Harry Harris, told a group of journalists here.
Harris, the highest-ranking Asian-American in the history of the US Navy and the first to attain the rank of 4-star Admiral, said it “behoves” all countries concerned about freedom of navigation to pay attention to what China was doing in the South China Sea.