Sina Delenda Est

China’s smear campaign against a U.S. admiral backfires
By Josh Rogin 

The commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. Harry Harris, testifies before a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 26. 

The Chinese government is denying reports that its ambassador to Washington asked the Trump administration to fire Adm. Harry Harris, the head of U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) and a strong voice inside the U.S. government calling for a tough China policy. 

This may mark the end of Beijing’s not-so-subtle campaign against Harris, which has been going on for years.
During the presidential transition, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner established a secret channel for communication with the help of former secretary of state Henry Kissinger. 

On May 6, the Japanese newswire Kyodo News’s Beijing bureau reported that Cui requested Trump get rid of Harris, before last month’s summit between Trump and Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago, offering unspecified help to solve the North Korean crisis. 

“A source close to U.S.-China ties” told Kyodo that the Trump administration likely rejected the request.

One White House official told me today that Cui never requested to Kushner that the Trump administration fire Harris. 

But a Trump transition official who was briefed on the Cui-Kushner meetings told me that Cui did raise the issue during the transition, but no promises were made.
Regardless, Harris’s allies in Congress are ready to take up his cause if the Chinese effort against Harris continues or if the Trump administration tries to throw the admiral overboard. 

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the Kyodo report was “outrageous” if true.
“I hope the Trump administration will reject such an inappropriate and presumptuous demand with the ridicule it deserves,” he said. 

“The fact that the Chinese government would make such a request only confirms that Admiral Harris is the right leader for Pacific Command.”
Pacific Command’s chief spokesman Capt. Darryn James told me that the story could be just another attempt by the Chinese government to smear Harris, as it has been doing for a long time.
“I don’t know anything about alleged conversations, but for years there’s been a lot of Chinese propaganda directed at Admiral Harris that we don’t pay much attention to,” said James. 

“Admiral Harris’s focus remains on protecting America’s interests in his area of responsibility.”
China’s Global Times, which often writes in support of the Chinese government, blamed the story on the Japanese media in a May 7 op-ed, accusing Japan of making up stories to thwart the warming of U.S.-China relations. 

The op-ed also claimed that China was fine with Harris being PACOM commander.
“Beijing has become more and more confident about developing ties with a Trump-led US,” it said. “China is able to keep normal interaction with the US Asia-Pacific command led by Harris. We do not count on any senior US official to take a pro-China position and we can cope with any who take a hard stance toward China.”
That’s a big shift from what the Chinese media has been saying about Harris since he became PACOM commander in 2015. 

Harris has been a strong voice inside the U.S. government for tougher measures to confront all manners of Chinese aggression, including its militarization of artificial islands in the South China Sea. 

It was Harris who famously coined the term “Great Wall of Sand” to describe Beijing’s effort to expand its control in the Western Pacific.
The Chinese government singled out Harris for attacks early on because it recognized his influence, said Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“They realized he was going to be an effective commander who was going to be able to marshal support for a tougher stance vis-a-vis China,” she said. 

“Harris has been willing to speak truth to power.”
China’s official and unofficial news agencies have been attacking Harris for years, often accusing him of being Japanese, in order to question his motivations. 

In fact, Harris’s mother was Japanese and his father was a U.S. Navy chief petty officer stationed in Yokosuka, Japan.“Some may say an overemphasis on the Japanese background about an American general is a bit unkind,” China’s official state media outlet Xinhua wrote last year.
“But to understand the American’s sudden upgraded offensive in the South China Sea, it is simply impossible to ignore Admiral Harris’s blood, background, political inclination and values.”

Beijing’s long campaign against Harris seems to have backfired. 

The shift in China’s tone suggests a realization that the more Harris is attacked by Beijing, the safer he may be in his job.
If Trump dumps Harris now, it will look like yet another concession to China that undermines U.S. and regional security in exchange for promises of future help on North Korea that may never come.

Chinese Paranoia

China urged U.S. to fire Pacific Command chief Harris in return for pressure on North Korea
KYODO
Adm. Harry Harris, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, addresses the Lowy Institute think tank in Sydney last December. 

BEIJING – China urged the United States to sack the head of the U.S. Pacific Command in return for exerting more pressure on North Korea amid concerns over its growing nuclear and missile threats, a source close to U.S.-China ties said Saturday.
Xi Jinping made the request, through his ambassador in the United States, to dismiss Adm. Harry Harris, known as a hard-liner on China, including with respect to the South China Sea issue, the source said.
China’s envoy to the United States, Cui Tiankai, conveyed the request to the U.S. side, to coincide with the first face-to-face, two-day meeting between Donald Trump and Xi in Florida from April 6, but the Trump administration likely rejected it, the source said.
China is a longtime economic and diplomatic benefactor of North Korea.
As the head of Pacific Command, Harris, who was born in Japan and raised in the United States, plays a vital role in the security of the region.
He was responsible in ordering last month the dispatch of the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier to waters near off the Korean Peninsula in a show of force amid signs the North was preparing to test-fire another ballistic missile or conduct a sixth nuclear test.
The Trump administration has called for exerting “maximum pressure” on North Korea to prod it to give up its nuclear and missile programs. 

The administration has said all options — including a military strikes — remain on the table.
Harris has pushed for the U.S. deployment of the advanced Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system to South Korea. 

China has opposed the deployment, saying it could undermine its security interests and the strategic balance of the region.
He has also called for continuing U.S. “freedom of navigation” operations in the contested South China Sea. 

Overlapping territorial claims, as well as land construction and militarization of outposts in disputed areas in the sea, remain a source of tension in the region.
According to the source, Cui also asked the Trump administration not to label China as a currency manipulator. 

As per the request, the United States did not label China as such.

Chinese Aggressions

U.S. admiral sees new South China Sea freedom of navigation operations

By David Brunnstrom

The Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, testifies before a House Armed Services Committee hearing on ''Military Assessment of the Security Challenges in the Indo-Asia-Pacific Region'' on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S, April 26, 2017.

WASHINGTON -- The United States will likely carry out new freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea soon, top U.S. commander in the Asia Pacific region, Admiral Harry Harris, said on Wednesday, without offering details.
Asked about any upcoming operations, Harris said: "I take direction and guidance from the secretary of defense and the national command authority on the conduct of those operations. I think we'll be doing some -- soon."

Sina Delenda Est

U.S. ready to confront Beijing on South China Sea: admiral Harry HarrisBy Colin Packham | SYDNEY

Guided-missile destroyer USS Decatur (DDG 73) operates in the South China Sea as part of the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) in the South China Sea on October 13, 2016. 

U.S. military forces aboard Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAV) manoeuvre on South China Sea near the shore during the annual Philippines-US amphibious landing exercise (PHIBLEX) in San Antonio, Zambales province, Philippines October 7, 2016. 

The United States is ready to confront China should it continue its overreaching maritime claims in the South China Sea, the head of the U.S. Pacific fleet said on Wednesday, comments that threaten to escalate tensions between the two global rivals.
China claims most of the resource-rich South China Sea through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year.
Neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam also have claims.
The United States has called on China to respect the findings of arbitration court in The Hague earlier this year which invalidated its vast territorial claims in the strategic waterway.
But Beijing continues to act in an "aggressive" manner, to which the United States stands ready to respond, Admiral Harry Harris, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, said in a speech in Sydney.
"We will not allow a shared domain to be closed down unilaterally no matter how many bases are built on artificial features in the South China Sea," he said.
"We will cooperate when we can but we will be ready to confront when we must."
The comments threaten to stoke tensions between the United States and China, already heightened by President Donald Trump's decision to accept a telephone call from Taiwan's president on Dec. 2 that prompted a diplomatic protest from Beijing.
The United States estimates Beijing has added more than 3,200 acres (1,300 hectares) of land on seven features in the South China Sea over the past three years, building runways, ports, aircraft hangars and communications equipment.
In response, the United States has conducted a series of freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea, the latest of which came in October.
The patrols have angered Beijing, with a senior Chinese official in July warning the practice may end in "disaster".
Harris said it was a decision for the Australian government whether the U.S. ally should undertake its own freedom-of-navigation operations, but said the United States would continue with the practice.
"The U.S. fought its first war following our independence to ensure freedom of navigation," said Harris.
"This is an enduring principle and one of the reasons our forces stand ready to fight tonight."