US rebrands Pacific command amid tensions with China

By Ryan Browne

The US announced Wednesday that it would rebrand the command responsible for overseeing US military operations in Asia, a move that comes amid heightened tensions with China over the militarization of the South China Sea.
US Pacific Command will now be called US Indo-Pacific Command, Secretary of Defense James Mattis said while speaking at a change of command ceremony in Hawaii, where the command's headquarters is located.
"In recognition of the increasing connectivity of the Indian and Pacific Oceans today we rename the US Pacific Command to US Indo-Pacific Command," Mattis said.
"It is our primary combatant command, it's standing watch and intimately engaged with over half of the earth's surface and its diverse populations, from Hollywood, to Bollywood, from polar bears to penguins," Mattis said of the command.
Adm. Harry Harris, who oversaw US military operations in the region until Wednesday, has been tapped by President Donald Trump to serve as the US ambassador to South Korea. 

Adm. Phillip Davidson will now lead the Indo-Pacific Command, which oversees some 375,000 US military and civilian personnel.
US officials say the name change is meant to better reflect the command's areas of responsibility, which includes 36 nations as well as both the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
The US has increased cooperation with India in a range of areas, including defense cooperation, and both Washington and New Delhi have voiced concerns about what they see as an increased assertiveness by China's military.
The rebranding comes in the wake of a series of actions by both the Chinese and US militaries that have raised tensions in the South China Sea. 

The US and the majority of the international community reject Beijing's claims of ownership of the area.
In recent months US officials have said that the Chinese military has deployed anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missile systems, and electronic jammers to contested features in the Spratly Islands region of the South China Sea.
China also recently landed a nuclear-capable H-6K bomber aircraft on Woody Island for the first time.
Those actions led the US to disinvite China from participating in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise, which the US Navy calls "the world's largest international maritime exercise," and involves some 26 nations including India and countries like Vietnam and the Philippines which actively contest China's claims to the South China Sea.
"China's continued militarization of disputed features in the South China Sea only serve to raise tensions and destabilize the region. As an initial response to China's continued militarization of the South China Sea we have disinvited the PLA Navy from the 2018 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise," Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Chris Logan told CNN last week.
"We have called on China to remove the military systems immediately and to reverse course on the militarization of disputed South China Sea features," he added.
The US Navy also sailed two warships Sunday past a handful of disputed islands in the South China Sea, including Woody Island where the Chinese bomber landed, a move that drew the immediate ire of Beijing.
Two US defense officials told CNN that the guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins and the cruiser USS Antietam sailed within 12 miles of four of the Paracel Islands in what the US Navy calls a "freedom of navigation operation," which are meant to enforce the right of free passage in international waters.
Two US officials said that during the freedom of navigation exercise a Chinese naval vessel shadowed the US warships, coming close enough to the US ships that the encounter was considered unprofessional but safe.
"It's international waters, and a lot of nations want to see freedom of navigation," Mattis told reporters Tuesday while en route to the change of command ceremony.

US admiral says China is Asia's biggest long-term threat

By Brad Lendon

The US admiral expected to become the country's next ambassador to South Korea says North Korea remains the most imminent threat to peace in the Pacific but China's "dream of hegemony" is Washington's biggest long-term challenge.
Adm. Harry Harris spoke Wednesday as he turned over the reins of the US Pacific Command to Adm. Phil Davidson at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in a ceremony that also announced the rebranding of US military assets in the region to the US Indo-Pacific Command.
Harris, who has been at the helm of the most expansive US military command for three years, hammered home points he's made repeatedly during his term.

Adm. Phil Davidson, left, relieves Adm. Harry Harris, right, as commander of US Indo-Pacific Command during a ceremony at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Wednesday.

"North Korea remains our most imminent threat and a nuclear-capable North Korea with missiles that can reach the United States is unacceptable," he said.
However he added, "China remains our biggest long-term challenge. Without focused involvement and engagement by the United States and our allies and partners China will realize its dream of hegemony in Asia."
It is unclear what role Harris will play in talks with North Korea leading up to a hoped-for summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12. 

Harris' nomination went to the Senate on May 18 ahead of his expected confirmation.
US rebrands Pacific command amid tensions with China

The admiral had been Trump's choice for to fill the vacant ambassador post in Australia, but that nomination was pulled hours before his confirmation hearing in April. 

Sources told CNN at the time that the move was the idea of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has been instrumental in laying the groundwork for a Trump-Kim summit.
While Harris has always been a hawk on North Korea during his term at Pacific Command, he has also issued warnings on China as Beijing has pursued a more muscular military posture in the Pacific and established a military presence on man-made islands in areas the US and its allies contend are international waters.
Harris was still in charge of Pacific Command last week when it pulled an invitation for China to participate in the 2018 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) military exercise, the world's largest international maritime warfare exercise.
US officials said that decision was made after Beijing's recent deployment of missile systems and the first landing of a Chinese bomber on an island in the South China Sea.

US plans 'steady drumbeat' of exercises in South China Sea, Mattis says

Standing alongside Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at a news conference in Washington on May 23, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called the US decision "unhelpful."
In Hawaii Wednesday, Mattis said, "we should cooperate with Beijing where we can but stand ready to confront them where we must."
The admiral and future ambassador also warned his successors to keep an eye on Moscow, saying Russia is trying to act as "the spoiler" in the Indo-Pacific.
"A geopolitical competition between free and repressive visions of world order is taking place in the Indo-Pacific," Harris said.
"Great power competition is back and I believe we're approaching an inflection point in history.... Freedom and justice hang in the balance."

Chinese Peril

'Methodical and strategic': Incoming US ambassador warns of China influence
By Fergus Hunter

Admiral Harry Harris in Canberra earlier this month.

The incoming United States ambassador to Australia, Admiral Harry Harris, has issued a stark warning about China's intentions in the Asia-Pacific, accusing the resurgent power of bullying regional neighbours by economic, political and military means.
Admiral Harris, a well-known defence hawk who President Donald Trump picked last month to be the next US envoy in Canberra, also said there were lessons to be learnt from Chinese Communist Party-linked influence in Australia.
"China is leveraging military modernisation, influence operations and predatory economics to coerce neighbouring countries to reorder the Indo-Pacific to their advantage," Admiral Harris, the commander of US forces in the Pacific, told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington, DC.

"While some view China's actions in the East and South China Seas as opportunistic, I do not. I view them as co-ordinated, methodical and strategic, using their military and economic power to erode the free and open international order."
In recent years, China has made ambitious claims over disputed waters in Asia, building and militarising artificial islands in the South China Sea and antagonising neighbouring countries that also claim sovereignty over the territory.
Asked about Chinese influence in other countries, Admiral Harris said "it is real in Australia".
"I believe there are lessons to be learnt in the Australian case that are applicable to our situation," he said.
The Australian debate about China-linked influence in politics, academia and media has been closely watched in the US and other Western countries, in particular the fate of former Labor senator Sam Dastyari, who resigned following revelations concerning his links to a CCP-linked political donor.
Admiral Harris labelled Australia "one of the keys to a rules-based international order" and also warned that the US would have to keep pace with China's rapid military build-up or it would "struggle to compete with the People's Liberation Army on future battlefields"
He is well-respected in Australia's political, defence and foreign policy communities but his years of criticism of China have irritated Xi Jinping's authoritarian government.
Chinese state-owned media have accused the commander of being the "most prejudiced" figure in the US military since World War II, "sowing discord", and being a publicity seeker. 

They have also noted his mother is Japanese and suggested this fuels his hostility towards China.
Admiral Harris' imminent arrival in Canberra will see the post filled for the first time since September 2016, when the Obama-appointed John Berry stepped down.
The Harris appointment is a strong signal of the Trump administration's intentions in the region. 

Over recent months, the US has made clear that confronting China's growing economic and military power is a top priority in its defence and national security strategies.

Paper tiger: U.S. “innocent passages” in South China Sea

By Timothy Saviola, Nathan Swire 

The USS Hopper in November 2017 during a photo exercise in the Arabian Gulf. 

The United States drew significant criticism from China for its latest freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) in the South China Sea. 

In the days following the USS Hopper’s transit through the 12-nautical-mile zone around the Scarborough Shoal, editorials in China’s People’s Daily warned that the action was “reckless” and that “China must strengthen and speed up the building of its abilities” in the islands. 

The Global Times, another state-owned paper, noted that as China’s power grows, it is better able “to send more naval vessels as a response and can take steps like militarizing islands.” 

China’s actions have matched its words. 

It recently deployed advanced Su-35 and J-20 fighter aircraft to patrol the South China Sea and is upgrading the civil communications infrastructure on the islands it occupies. 

The Philippines-based Inquirer recently released a cache of new high resolution photos taken in late 2017 detailing the rapid addition of military infrastructure.
A U.S. official described the Hopper’s action as “innocent passage” rather than a FONOP, though “the message was the same.” 

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Articles 17–19, all nations have the right of “innocent passage” to continuously and expeditiously traverse other nations’ territorial seas. Though both China and the Philippines claim the Shoals, this reference to the Hopper’s activity as innocent passage seemed to implicitly accede that the shoals are entitled to a territorial sea: Warships need only declare innocent passage to traverse territorial seas, as opposed to the high seas. 

In the 2016 South China Sea arbitration, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruled that the shoals were not an island but a rock and therefore does not create a territorial sea or other maritime zones on its own.
The Philippines may be making it more difficult for other nations to protect freedom of navigation in the South China Sea by minimizing their claims to Scarborough Shoal and other features. 

The Philippine government has appeared to largely ignore China’s reclamation and militarization efforts during recent meetings: The two countries recently pledged cooperation on joint exploration for oil and gas in the region without touching on construction work or sovereignty in the South China Sea. 

However, the Philippine military recently deployed a TC-90 turboprop aircraft, donated by Japan, to monitor its exclusive economic zone and protect its maritime domain in the South China Sea.
Other major maritime powers have supported the United States’ position on freedom of navigation. 

In March, Britain plans to send a Royal Navy Type 23 frigate, the HMS Sutherland, on a transit through the South China Sea. 

British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson

Speaking on a recent trip to Australia, British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson noted that the United Kingdom “absolutely support(s) the U.S. approach” to FONOPS. 

The Royal Navy has left open whether the ship will sail within 12 nautical miles of any of the contested features—thus entering the contested territorial waters—or will simply pass through the sea in uncontested international waters. 

But Williamson noted that the “navy has a right” to sail through the South China Sea. 

The Global Times published an editorial dismissing the effort as an attempt by Britain to maintain its naval influence.
The U.S. Department of Defense chronicles these FONOPs in its Annual Freedom of Navigation Report for Fiscal Year 2017, describing the United States’ challenges to what it views as “Excessive Maritime Claims.” 

Activities in 2017 were similar to the scope of challenges in previous years.

The annual report identifies the geographic scope of FONOPs as well as the rights that the United States is asserting.

East China Sea
Natural gas condensate, an ultra-light oil, has spread into the waters of the East China Sea following the collision last month of the Iranian-owned tanker Sanchi with a cargo ship. 

The oil is endangering fisheries in hundreds of square miles of surrounding waters. 

China has taken the lead in dealing with the cleanup. 

Chinese firefighters attempted to extinguish the flames on the ship, but they were unable to rescue any of the 32 crew members from the oil tanker. 

Beijing has come under criticism for the slowness of its response to its disaster and for initial communications that seemed to understate the seriousness of the spill, which is now estimated at 111,000 metric tons, the largest oil spill since 1991.
The environmental effects on the surrounding waters, which include fisheries utilized by both China and Japan, could be severe and long-lasting. 

Oil slicks totaling up to 128 square miles were sighted in regions that include spawning beds for numerous sea creatures, as well as migration routes for marine mammals such as whales. 

The regions affected by the oil spills include both China’s and Japan’s exclusive economic zones. 

The Chinese government has responded by banning fishing in affected regions, while Japan has set up a special coordination unit in the prime minister’s office to deal with the oil spill, including investigating oil that has washed up on the shores of the Japanese Amami-Oshima islands. 

The type of natural gas condensate that has leaked from the Sanchi is highly toxic, but it does not coalesce into highly visible clumps like crude oil, making the extent of contamination hard to measure.
Whether the damage to the East China Sea’s marine ecosystem will have any effect on the maritime disputes in the region remains to be seen.

Robot Wars
On Feb. 10, China began construction on the Wanshan Marine Test Field in the city of Zhuhai in southern China. 

According to the government-controlled China Internet Information Center, the test field will be used as a research facility for unmanned ship technology. 

The approximately 300-square-mile facility will be the largest of its kind in the world and will be run as a joint program between the Zhuhzai government, the China Classification Society, the Wuhan University of Technology, and Oceanalpha, a company focused on developing unmanned surface vessels.
This is not China’s first foray into unmanned vessels. 

Over the past few months, the Chinese government has promoted the success of several of such vessels with military or law enforcement applications. 

These include the Tianxing-1—which China claims is the world’s fastest unmanned vessel, with a maximum speed of over 57 miles per hour—as well as the Huster-68, which successfully executed a patrol around the Songmushan Reservoir. 

The website of Shenzhen Huazhong University, which developed the Huster-68, states that the patrol vessel would aid China’s ability to manage water resources and achieve its ambitions of becoming a blue-water navy (according to a translation from the South China Morning Post). 

Wuhan University has been running a research program into the development of maritime drones since 2012.
These developments come as other navies around the world are developing their own maritime drones. 

In 2016, the British Royal Navy conducted “Unmanned Warrior” off the coast of Scotland and Wales, a mass demonstration of aerial, surface, and underwater maritime autonomous vessels. 

The U.S. Navy, meanwhile, has recently established its first Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Squadron, UUVRON 1, which will oversee existing vehicles and test new ones.

The United States
Adm. Harry Harris, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, has been nominated to be U.S. Ambassador to Australia. 

In testimony to the House Armed Services Committee, Harris took a hard line against China’s actions in the South China Sea—which he oversaw when leading Pacific Command—saying that China’s aggression in the region is “coordinated, methodical, and strategic, using their military and economic power to erode the free and open international order.”

Analysis and Commentary
In the National Interest, Gordon Chang criticizes as self-defeating the U.S. description of the transit near Scarborough Shoal as “innocent passage,” because it seems to be implying that China is the rightful sovereign of the shoal—even though the shoal itself is contested and the South China Sea arbitration found it did not confer a territorial sea.
Peter Jennings of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute applauds the pick of Harris as ambassador to Australia, saying “[t]he posting sends the clearest possible signal that the US is intent on strengthening its Asian alliances.”
In Japan Forward, Ryozo Kato, former Japanese Ambassador to the U.S., suggests that Japan should reopen the debate into whether it should pursue nuclear weapons in an age of continuous threat from North Korean missiles.

Sina Delenda Est: The Necessary War

Admiral Harry Harris warns US must prepare for war with China
By Ben Doherty

Harry Harris says China’s military might could soon rival US power across almost every domain, and warned of possibility of war.

The navy admiral nominated to be the next US ambassador to Australia has told Congress America must prepare for the possibility of war with China, and said it would rely on Australia to help uphold the international rules-based system in the Asia-Pacific.
In an excoriating assessment of China’s increasingly muscular posture in the region, Harry Harris said Beijing’s “intent is crystal clear” to dominate the South China Sea and that its military might could soon rival American power “across almost every domain”.
Harris, soon to retire as the head of US Pacific Command in Hawaii, told the House armed services committee, the US and its allies should be wary of Beijing’s military expansionism in the region, and condemned China’s foreign influence operations, predatory economic behaviour and coercion of regional neighbours.
“China’s intent is crystal clear. We ignore it at our peril,” he said. 

“I’m concerned China will now work to undermine the international rules-based order.”

Admiral Harry Harris is named US ambassador to Australia

Harris also warned of a “cult of personality” developing around Chinese dictator Xi Jinping.
Harris praised Australia as one of America’s staunchest allies in the Asia-Pacific region, noting existing military cooperation at air force bases in the Northern Territory, joint naval exercises and the regular rotation of 1,500 marines through Darwin.
“Australia is one of the keys to a rules-based international order,” Harris said. 

“I look to my Australian counterparts for their assistance, I admire their leadership in the battlefield and in the corridors of power in the world.
“They are a key ally of the United States and they have been with us in every major conflict since world war one.”
Harris, the Yokosuka-born son of an American naval officer and a Japanese mother, has been nominated by President Donald Trump as the next ambassador to Australia. 

His appointment must be confirmed by the Senate.
Australia has been without a US ambassador since John Berry departed in September 2016.
Harris said he was alarmed by China’s construction of military bases on seven disputed islands in the South China Sea that neighbouring countries lay territorial claims to.
In 2016, the permanent court of arbitration in The Hague, sided with the Philippines in the dispute it brought, saying there was no legal basis for China’s claim of historic sovereignty over waters within the so-called nine-dash line in the sea.
Regardless, Chinese military build-up continues in the sea.
“China’s impressive military build-up could soon challenge the United States across almost every domain,” Harris said.
In a separate answer, he said of the risk of conflict with China: “as far as the idea of deterrence and winning wars, I’m a military guy. And I think it’s important you must plan and resource to win a war at the same time you work to prevent it.”
“At the end of the day the ability to wage war is important or you become a paper tiger. I’m hopeful that it won’t come to a conflict with China, but we must all be prepared for that if it should come to that.”
Should Harris be confirmed as the next ambassador to Australia, his position would present a challenge for Canberra, as it seeks to navigate an increasingly delicate diplomatic and economic relationship with Beijing.
Ties were severely strained last year after a backlash against China’s influence on and infiltration of Australia’s political system, highlighted by the resignation of Labor senator Sam Dastyari over accepting cash from Chinese businessmen for private debts and his position, at odds with his party, on the South China Sea. 

The Australian government has proposed new espionage laws and tightening of rules around foreign donations to political parties.
China is Australia’s largest trading partner, but the US is its primary defence and security ally, and Australia has been a vocal defender of the US alliance network over issues such as the nuclear weapons ban treaty, which the US opposes.
The Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, who has previously met Harris in Hawaii, has publicly welcomed his nomination. 

“Great to see Admiral Harry Harris nominated by [Donald Trump] as US ambassador to Australia. Look forward to seeing you in Canberra, Harry,” Turnbull said on Twitter on February 10.
Turnbull will meet with Trump in Washington next week. 

It is not known when Harris’s confirmation hearing will take place.

American Hero

Adm. Harry Harris, Trump's pick for Australia envoy, slams Beijing's Asia ambitions
By Ben Westcott

China is seeking to "undermine" the international order in the Asia Pacific, Adm. Harry Harris, US President Donald Trump's nominee for ambassador to Australia, said in Washington on Wednesday.
Addressing the US Committee on Armed Services on the challenges facing the US military in the region, Adm. Harris, the highest commander of US forces in Asia Pacific region, said the Trump administration must work to counter Beijing's influence in the region.
"China's intention is crystal clear. We ignore it at our peril," he said in public testimony. 

"I'm concerned China will work to undermine the international rules-based order."
Plain-spoken and well-known in the international community for his remarks on US policy in the Asia Pacific, Harris has often provoked a vitriolic reaction from Beijing, in particular for his passionate calls for action in the South China Sea.
His appointment would raise the stakes in the battle for influence in Asia, with experts saying Harris could push the Australian government to tighten military cooperation with its traditional ally.

US President Donald Trump meets with Admiral Harry B. Harris, Jr. in Hawaii on November 3, 2017.

The head of US Pacific Command, Harris was announced in early February as US President Trump's pick as the next ambassador to Australia.
The ambassadorship to Australia has been empty for almost 18 months following the end of the former incumbent John Berry's term in September 2016 -- one of a number of key Asia roles that haven't been filled by the Trump administration.
Harris' appointment must be confirmed by the US Congress, and it's not clear exactly when that will happen.
During his testimony to the committee on Wednesday, Harris said China was trying to reorder the Indo-Pacific through "military modernization, influence operations and predatory economics."
"China's impressive military build up could soon challenge the US across every domain ... If the US does not keep pace, (US Pacific Command) will struggle to compete with the People's Liberation Army on future battlefields," he said.

Taking the gloves off
Born in Yokosuka, Japan, the son of an American naval officer and a Japanese mother, Harris ascended through the ranks of the US Navy to become the highest commander in the Asia Pacific region.
Carl Schuster, former director of operations at the US Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Center, told CNN that Harris was greatly respected by the armed forces and in political circles in Washington DC.
"He may be a good advocate for Australia's interests and position ... He has credibility with the Trump administration so he could very well be viewed as two-way conduit," he said.
Australian leaders warmly welcomed the news of Harris' appointment, including Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull who has met with the admiral in Hawaii on at least one occasion.
"Great to see Admiral Harry Harris nominated by (Donald Trump) as US ambassador to Australia. Look forward to seeing you in Canberra, Harry," Turnbull said on his official Twitter on February 10.

Schuster said Adm. Harris was an "innovative and flexible thinker," who was a strong advocate for a strong advocate for tighter ties between the US and its allies in Asia.
The admiral's harsh rhetoric comes at a time when Australia finds itself caught between its longtime ally the United States and its major economic partner China.
Euan Graham, director of the International Security Program at Sydney's Lowy Institute, told CNN Harris could help the Trump administration put more pressure on Australia to follow the US line.

Trump picks top Pacific commander to be Australia ambassador

"Australia can't continue to expect that it will be able to have its cake and eat it too when it comes to the economic relationship with China and (its US ally),"
"(Harris) is someone who is prepared to take the gloves off when it comes to making hard choices in the relationship between China and the US."
Australia could be more receptive than usual to US persuasion -- in recent months, the government has been taking a hard look at Beijing's influence in Australia, after an opposition Labor Party senator stepped down over taking large donations from a Chinese businessman.
The admiral could push Canberra to show greater enthusiasm for ongoing talks between India, Japan, Australia and the United States about taking part in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, Graham said, with the aim of containing China.
"His nomination singles an interest on the part of the administration to make sure that Australia steps up on questions of defense cooperation, alliance cooperation, where China is concerned," he said.
Harris has been a longtime critic of the Chinese military's island building campaign in the South China Sea, a position he continued on Wednesday citing Beijing's aggressions in the area.
In a lecture in Sydney in December 2016, Harris said the US would not give up "shared domains" at sea, "no matter how many bases are built on artificial features in the South China Sea."
Schuster said rather than having an aggressive attitude towards Beijing, Harris instead had a realistic approach to China.
"He sees China as a strategic competitor to the US ... he looks at the South China Sea and thinks if we keep ignoring what China is doing there, then China will win by default," he said.
The Chinese government has expressed its open dislike for Harris on multiple occasions in state media and is unlikely to be pleased at the news of his ambassadorship.
In February 2016, Chinese state media Xinhua infamously questioned whether Harris' Japanese ancestry, on his mother's side, had influenced his opinion on the South China Sea.
"Some may say an overemphasis on his background as a Japanese-American general is a bit unkind .. But to understand the Americans' sudden upgraded offensive in the South China Sea, it is simply impossible to ignore Admiral Harris' blood, background, political inclination and values," the piece read.
Graham said any loud protests by the Chinese government could backfire, particularly given the recent atmosphere of outrage in Australia over allegations of attempts by Beijing to influence domestic policy.
"I think the response, by and large, in Australia would be to swing behind the US alliance," he said.

Chinese Aggressions

US sets schedule for patrols in South China Sea for the first time, plans to increase operations

By Nirmal Ghosh

Construction is shown on Mischief Reef, in the Spratly Islands, the disputed South China Sea in this March 11, 2017, satellite image released by CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Inititative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Construction is shown on Fiery Cross Reef, in the Spratly Islands, the disputed South China Sea in this June 16, 2017 satellite image released by CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

WASHINGTON -- The US Pacific Command has for the first time developed a schedule for naval patrols in the South China Sea, with freedom of navigation operations (FONOPS) two or three times over the next few months, a report said on Friday (Sept 1), quoting unnamed US officials.
This would mark a considered approach to FONOPS in the disputed South China Sea, the Wall Street Journal reported. 

China claims the maritime zone virtually in its entirety, but Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines also have claims there.
China has called previous FONOPS by the US provocative. 

There have been three so far under President Donald Trump, and four under the previous Barack Obama administration.
China reacted sharply to a US patrol on July 2, when the American destroyer USS Stethem passed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island in the Paracels chain. 

The destroyer had “trespassed” China’s territorial waters, China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. 

But Admiral Harry Harris, chief of the US Pacific Command, has publicly favoured more FONOPS.
The last such operation was conducted on Aug 10 near Mischief Reef, one of several features in the Spratlys chain that had been fortified by China. 

In that operation, the destroyer USS John McCain was accompanied by two P-8 Poseidon maritime reconnaissance aircraft, officials told the Wall Street Journal, adding that air support may be a regular feature of future FONOPS.
Notwithstanding an apparently warm start to the personal relationship between President Trump and Xi Jinping, China and the US are still feeling their way in a relationship which under Mr Trump, has become prickly over the issue of trade and North Korea.
The US wants to cut its trade deficit with China, and also wants Beijing to lean on North Korea to pressure the Pyongyang regime to curb its nuclear and missile programmes – and Mr Trump has linked the two issues.
Meanwhile on Thursday, Vietnam objected to Chinese drills in the Gulf of Tonkin, just north of the South China Sea. 

In a statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Thi Thu Hang said “Vietnam proposes China to cease and refrain from repeating acts that complicate the situation in the East Sea (South China Sea).”

In July, China had pressured Hanoi to suspend oil drilling in waters also claimed by China.

Chinese Aggressions

In a First Under Trump, a U.S. Warship Challenges Beijing's Claims in the South China Sea
By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart

A satellite image of Mischief Reef located in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea on Feb. 18, 2016. USGS/NASA Landsat data/Orbital Horizon/Gallo Images/Getty Images

WASHINGTON — A U.S. Navy warship sailed within 12 nautical miles of an artificial island built up by China in the South China Sea, U.S. officials said on Wednesday, the first such challenge to Beijing in the strategic waterway since Donald Trump took office.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the USS Dewey traveled close to the Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands, among a string of islets, reefs and shoals over which China has territorial disputes with its neighbors.
The reedom of navigation operation, which is sure to anger China, comes as Trump is seeking Beijing's cooperation to rein in ally North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
Territorial waters are generally defined by U.N. convention as extending at most 12 nautical miles from a state's coastline.

One U.S. official said it was the first operation near a land feature which was included in a ruling last year against China by an international arbitration court in The Hague. 

The court invalidated China's claim to sovereignty over large swathes of the South China Sea.
The U.S. patrol, the first of its kind since October, marked the latest attempt to counter what Washington sees as Beijing's efforts to limit freedom of navigation in the strategic waters.
The United States has criticized China's construction of the man-made islands and build-up of military facilities in the sea, and expressed concern they could be used to restrict free movement.
U.S. allies and partners in the region had grown anxious as the new administration held off on carrying out South China Sea operations during its first few months in office.
Last month, top U.S. commander in the Asia-Pacific region, Admiral Harry Harris, said the United States would likely carry out freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea soon, without offering any details.
Still, the U.S. military has a long-standing position that these operations are carried out throughout the world, including in areas claimed by allies, and they are separate from political considerations.
The Pentagon said in a statement it was continuing regular freedom of navigation operations and would do more in the future but gave no details of the latest mission.
"We operate in the Asia-Pacific region on a daily basis, including in the South China Sea. We operate in accordance with international law," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said in the statement.

U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS
Under the previous administration, the U.S. Navy conducted several such voyages through the South China Sea. 

The last operation was approved by then-President Barack Obama.
China's claims to the South China Sea, which sees about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade pass every year, are challenged by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
The latest U.S. patrol is likely to exacerbate U.S.-China tensions that had eased since Trump hosted Xi Jinping for a summit at the U.S. leader's Florida resort last month.
Trump lambasted China during the 2016 presidential campaign, accusing Beijing of stealing U.S. jobs with unfair trade policies, manipulating its currency in its favor and militarizing parts of the South China Sea.
In December, after winning office, he upended protocol by taking a call from the president of self-ruled Taiwan, which China regards as its own sacred territory.
But since meeting Xi at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump has praised Xi for efforts to restrain North Korea, though Pyongyang has persisted with ballistic missile tests despite international condemnation.
U.S.-based South China Sea expert Greg Poling of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the operation was also the first conducted by the United States close to an artificial feature built by China not entitled to a territorial sea under international law.
Previous freedom of navigation operations have gone within 12 nautical miles of Subi and Fiery Cross reefs, two other features in the Spratlys built up by China, but both of those features are entitled to a territorial sea.
Mischief Reef was not entitled to a territorial sea as it was underwater at high tide before it was built up by China and was not close enough to another feature entitled to such a territorial sea, said Poling.
He said the key question was whether the U.S. warship had engaged in a real challenge to the Chinese claims by turning on radar or launching a helicopter or boat -- actions not permitted in a territorial sea under international law.
Otherwise, critics say, the operation would have resembled what is known as "innocent passage" and could have reinforced rather than challenged China's claim to a territorial limit around the reef.

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."

Chinese Aggressions

The Navy is planning fresh challenges to China's claims in the South China Sea
By: David B. Larter

U.S. Navy and Pacific Command leaders want to ratchet up operations in the South China Sea by sailing more warships near the increasingly militarized man-made islands that China claims as sovereign territory, according to several Navy officials.
The freedom of navigation operations, also known as FONOPS, could be carried out by ships with the San Diego-based Carl Vinson carrier strike group, which is in the Pacific Ocean heading toward the South China Sea, according to three defense officials who spoke to Navy Times on condition of anonymity to discuss operations in the planning phase.
The military's plans likely call for sailing within 12 nautical miles of China’s newly built islands in the Spratly and Paracel islands, a move that would amount to a new challenge to Chinese territorial claims there that has raised tensions between Washington and Beijing in the recent past.
The plans are heading up the chain of command for approval by President Donald Trump, and set the stage for a transnational guessing game about what the Trump administration wants its Asia policy to be.
For years, the Obama administration curtailed the Navy’s operations around contested areas like the Spratly Islands, an archipelago of uninhabited islands and reefs that China has built up in recent years. 

China has installed military-grade runways on the islands and could deploy surface-to-air weaponry.
U.S. Navy leaders believe that the FONOPS help clarify rights under international law and secure U.S. influence in the region. 

China, however, views the U.S. operations there as a provocative challenge to Beijing’s effort to claim the territory and the fishing rights and any oil or natural gas reserves in the surrounding waters.
“The Trump administration has to decide what it wants to achieve,” said Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.
“I doubt it it's possible to compel China to withdraw from its newly built islands in the Spratlys. But the U.S. could develop a strategy aimed at preventing more land reclamation, capping militarization and deterring China from using its new outposts to intimidate and coerce its neighbors,” Glaser told Navy Times in an interview.
News of the military’s planned FONOPs in 2017 track with reports in the Japanese press that Defense Secretary James Mattis, in closed-door meetings during his recent trip to Asia, assured Japanese officials that the U.S. military was planning an assertive approach towards China in the South China Sea.

Ships from the George Washington and Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Groups are underway in formation.

'It’s what we do' 

For years, U.S. military leaders such as Adm. Harry Harris, head of U.S. Pacific Command, 
have sought a more aggressive approach towards China in the South China Sea. 

U.S. Navy officials are quick to point out that the U.S. has been operating there for decades and are maintaining the historic status quo.
But Obama specifically prohibited the Navy from carrying out FONOPS in the South China Sea from 2012 through 2015. 

During that time, China put into overdrive its land reclamation and military construction projects around those reefs and islands.
Obama’s policy of caution, intended to please China, made what was once a standard Navy mission seem aggressive.
“What the Navy wants is for them not to be a news story,” said Bryan McGrath, a retired destroyer captain and consultant with the Ferrybridge Group. 

“The real value in them is that they happen with such frequency that they just become part of the background noise.”
“The more it became a big deal, the more it looked like what we were doing was retaliatory or vindictive. It’s not.” McGrath said. 

“It’s what we do. We say, ‘This is international water and we will proudly sail in it, steam in it, or fly over it to protect our right to do so and others’ rights, as well.”

Making the point, a Navy official pointed to a recent freedom of navigation operation by the cruiser Port Royal aimed at excessive claims made by Sri Lanka, which demands ships transiting its coast obtain prior permission. 

The Port Royal made that transit Jan. 24 under the right of innocent passage, a terms that allows warships to pass through the territorial waters of another country without permission on the condition that the ship not carry out any military operations such as launching helicopters, shooting guns or lighting off any sensitive surveillance equipment.
“FONOPS are a regular, normal and routine occurrence,” the Navy official said.

Likewise, Navy officials sought to downplay the San Diego-base Vinson’s return to the region.
"There is nothing new about U.S. Navy aircraft carrier strike groups deploying to the western Pacific,” said U.S. 3rd Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Ryan Perry.
“Our strike groups have patrolled the Indo-Asia-Pacific regularly and routinely for more than 70 years and will continue to do so. Regional security, stability and prosperity depend on it,” Perry said. 

It is unclear when Vinson and its strike group will enter the South China Sea.
The group includes the destroyers Wayne E. Meyer and Michael Murphy, and the cruiser Lake Champlain. 

Joining Vinson is Carrier Air Wing 2, which is composed of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 4; Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 78; Strike Fighter Squadrons 2, 34, 137, and 192; Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 113; Electronic Attack Squadron 136; and Fleet Logistic Support Squadron 30.

USS Carl Vinson

Trump’s campaign last year repeatedly accused China of devaluing its currency to disadvantage U.S. goods in international trade markets.

Trump pushed relations to near-crisis levels before his inauguration by taking a phone call from the Taiwanese president, something that no U.S. president has done since the 1970s.
Furthermore, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told lawmakers he’d be open to blockading China from their Spratly Islands claims.
But in recent days the temperature has lowered significantly. 

In a phone call Thursday with Xi Jinping, Trump expressed his commitment to America's existing "One China" policy in regards to Taiwan, which does not officially recognize Taiwan as independent from mainland China. 

Chinese officials were also pleased with a letter from Trump to Xi expressing his desire to have a constructive and mutually beneficial relationship.
Other signs that Trump is seeking a "constructive" relationship with China include the appointment of Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, a friend of Xi’s, as ambassador to China. 

And Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her daughter also visited the Chinese Embassy in Washington to celebrate the Chinese New Year. 

Sina Delenda Est

The US is 'ready to confront' China in the Pacific with the world's most lethal combat plane

By Alex Lockie 

Adm. Harry Harris Jr., the head of US Pacific Command. 

Adm. Harry Harris, the head of the US Pacific Command, told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday that the US was "ready to confront" China should it continue its aggressive course in the South China Sea.
China has spent years building artificial islands to bolster its territorial claims in the South China Sea, a resource-rich area through which about $5 trillion in shipping flows each year.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies' Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative has recently observed, via satellite imagery, China placing radar outposts and weapons, including antiaircraft and antimissile systems, on the islands in international waters.
In the past, China has unilaterally declared "no sail" and "no-fly zones" in the region, despite a ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague that its claims to the South China Sea, based on old maps, lacked merit.
Reuters
China flouting international law has strained relations with the US.
Those ties took another big hit when President Donald Trump broke with decades of US foreign-policy tradition and accepted a call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and later tweeted about China's "massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea."
In response, China flew bombers along the perimeter of its contentious claims in the South China Sea in what it intended as a "message" to Trump, though it has flown the same bombers in a similar fashion before.
Harris characterized Beijing's activity as "aggressive" and vowed to act against it if needed, Reuters reports.
The US has repeatedly challenged China's claims in the region with freedom-of-navigation patrols, in which guided-missile destroyers sail near the disputed islands.
In July, Chinese officials warned that these patrols could end in "disaster."
"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," Harris said. 

"We will cooperate when we can, but we will be ready to confront when we must."
The USS Lassen (DDG 82) patrolling the eastern Pacific Ocean. 

These statements coincide with Harris making public a deployment of F-22 Raptors to Australia. 

The F-22, a very low observable aircraft, has unique features that make it ideal for piercing through and operating inside heavily contested airspace, like the skies above China's military installations in the South China Sea.
While Harris maintained that diplomacy was the best way to reach China, he stressed "the absolute necessity to maintain credible combat power," according to Breakingdefense.com.
An F-22 deploys flares.

In August, the US deployed nuclear-capable bombers to Guam in an effort to deter aggression in the region and to demonstrate its commitment to stability and freedom of navigation in the Pacific.
"The US fought its first war following our independence to ensure freedom of navigation," Harris said. 

"This is an enduring principle and one of the reasons our forces stand ready to fight tonight."

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."