Mortal Threat

New acting secretary of defense tells Pentagon 'to remember China, China, China'
By Ryan Browne

Washington -- On his first full day on the job, acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan told senior leaders at the Pentagon on Wednesday to "remember China, China, China," a US defense official told CNN.
"While we're focused on ongoing operations acting Secretary Shanahan told the team to remember China, China China," the official said.
Shanahan made the comments during a special meeting of all the military service secretaries and the undersecretaries of defense.

His decision to urge the Pentagon's leadership to focus on the threat posed by China came just hours before he attended a Cabinet meeting at the White House, where he sat next to President Donald Trump as Trump slammed Shanahan's predecessor James Mattis and the ongoing US military missions in Syria and Afghanistan.
"What's he done for me? How has he done in Afghanistan? Not too good. Not too good. I'm not happy with what he's done in Afghanistan and I shouldn't be happy," Trump said of Mattis, adding that he had "essentially" fired the retired general.
Shanahan stepped into the job after Mattis resigned following Trump's decision to pull US troops from Syria, a move that went against the advice of his most senior military and diplomatic advisers.
By focusing on China as opposed to operations in Syria or Afghanistan, Shanahan is seeking an issue where President Trump's views more closely reflect those espoused by the Pentagon's National Defense Strategy.
The Trump administration has sought to counter China in a variety of areas as Beijing has stepped up its military activities in the South China Sea and elsewhere.

During the public portion of the Cabinet meeting, Shanahan touted the Defense Department's role in another priority of President Trump's, helping to secure the southern US border.
He said his team is working "closely" with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and her department, noting that military engineers were working to restore fences and looking to build additional miles of wall.
"The Army Corps of Engineers is dialed in on doing this cost-effectively, quickly and with the right amount of urgency as to where we can build additional standup walls quickly and then get after the threat. The threat is real, the risks are real. We need to control our borders," he said.
Trump told Shanahan he was "such a pleasure" to work with and that he had "done a really fantastic job" with regard to the border.
Shanahan also told the Pentagon leadership Wednesday that he had selected the current comptroller, David Norquist, to "perform the duties of deputy secretary of defense."
"As Department of Defense Chief Financial Officer and Comptroller for the past 19 months, David Norquist has had insight into virtually every tenet of this department. I have the greatest confidence in his abilities to lead a phenomenally talented team while performing the duties as Deputy Secretary of Defense," Shanahan said in a statement issued later on Wednesday.

FONOPs

Pentagon Pledges More Freedom of Navigation Operations in South China Sea
By: Ben Werner

USS Dewey (DDG-105) transits the South China Sea on May 6, 2017.

THE PENTAGON — The war of words over last weekend’s U.S. Navy freedom of navigation operation in the South China Sea continued on Thursday at press conferences in Beijing and Washington.
Pentagon officials have neither plans to stop sending warships steaming past the artificial islands China has built in the South China Sea nor stop testing expansive territorial claims, Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the director of the Joint Staff, said on Thursday
“We’re going to continue to conduct freedom of navigation operations as allowed by international law and we’re going to continue to do the things that we’re doing,” McKenzie said during the Pentagon’s weekly on-camera media briefing.
McKenzie was responding to media questions about last weekend’s freedom of navigation operation, where Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG-54) and Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, USS Higgins (DDG-76) conducted a FONop past the Paracel Island chain.
When asked by members of the press corps about U.S. military planners concern over a potential long-term threat to navigation posed by the South China Sea island building, McKenzie referenced the U.S. island hopping strategy employed in World War II to repel the advancement of Japan’s military.
“It’s just a fact we have a lot of experience in the Second World War taking out small islands that are isolated. That’s a core competency of the US military that we’ve done before,” McKenzie said. 

“You shouldn’t read anything more into that than a simple statement of historical fact.”

China has deployed surface to air missiles and other air defense assets to many of their South China Sea islands, McKenzie said.

When asked whether Pentagon officials expect an escalation in China’s response to future freedom of navigation operations, McKenzie said, “I couldn’t speculate as to what China’s actions in the future might or might not be.”

Chinese Aggressions

Pentagon disinvites China from major naval exercise over South China Sea buildup
By Missy Ryan

This May 19 video still from China's CCTV shows a Chinese H-6K bomber aircraft is seen flying along a runway in the South China Sea. The Chinese air force landed long-range bombers for the first time at an airport, a move that has further fueled concerns about Beijing's expansive claims over the disputed region. 

The Pentagon disinvited China from participating in a major naval exercise on Wednesday, signaling mounting U.S. anger over Beijing’s expanded military footprint in disputed areas of the South China Sea.
A Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Christopher Logan, said the Defense Department had reversed an earlier invitation to the Chinese Navy to the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), a biennual naval exercise that includes more than two dozen nations, over its decision to place anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missiles, and electronic jammers in the contested Spratly Islands. 

China has also landed bomber aircraft at Woody Island, farther to the north in the disputed Paracel Islands, the Pentagon said.
“While China has maintained that the construction of the islands is to ensure safety at sea, navigation assistance, search and rescue, fisheries protection, and other non-military functions, the placement of these weapon systems is only for military use,” Logan said in a statement.
While the Trump administration does not assert a U.S. claim to the islands and smaller features, it has challenged Chinese claims of sovereignty over virtually all the South China Sea, which U.S. allies in the region see as key to their economic interests and security.
Chinese officials were notified about its exlcusion from RIMPAC, which last about a month, on Wednesday morning, a Pentagon official said. 

Beijing began participating in the exercise in 2014. 

There was no immediate public response from the Chinese government.
Logan described China’s activities as a “violation of the promise that Xi Jinping made to the United States and the world.”
“We have called on China to remove the military systems immediately and to reverse course on the militarization of disputed South China Sea features,” Logan said.