The Necessary War

The United States will prevent China from taking over territory in international waters in the South China Sea.
Big News Network
WASHINGTON, U.S. - The United States on Monday promised to ensure the United States would prevent China from taking over territory in international waters in the South China Sea.
“The U.S. is going to make sure that we protect our interests there,” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said when asked if the new U.S. president agreed with comments by his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson earlier this month that China should not be allowed access to islands it has built in the disputed South China Sea.
“It’s a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yeah, we’re going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country,” he said.
Spicer did not elaborate on how the U.S. would enforce such a move, only saying, “I think, as we develop further, we’ll have more information on it.”
Following Tillerson’s remarks at his Senate confirmation hearing earlier this month, during which he suggested a more aggressive strategy toward Beijing in the disputed South China Sea, Chinese state media expressed its displeasure.
Without elaborating, Tillerson had said, “We’re going to have to send China a clear signal that first the island-building stops and second your access to those islands is also not going to be allowed.”
In a warning to the Trump administration, the Chinese state-sanctioned The Global Times had then said "unless Washington plans to wage a large-scale war in the South China Sea, any other approaches to prevent Chinese access to the islands will be foolish."
The official response of the Chinese government was milder.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang said that “like the U.S., China has the right within its own territory to carry out normal activities.”
Pro-China analyst Mira Rapp-Hooper at the Center for a New American Security said: “A blockade – which is what would be required to actually bar access – is an act of war,” she added.
“The Trump administration's red lines may be very destabilising to the relationship with China.”
China's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the remarks from the White House.
China claims about 80 percent of the energy-rich South China Sea despite the findings of the arbitration court in The Hague earlier this year which ruled in favor of the Philippines, rejecting China's territorial claims in the strategic waterway.
Besides the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam also claim rights over the waters.