Air Force Secretary: China Pursuing ‘Militarization’ in South China Sea
Posted By Morgan Chalfant On September 8, 2016 @ 7:22 am In Uncategorized | No Comments
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said Wednesday that China was pursuing “militarization” in the South China Sea, and that the United States military could conduct more air and sea operations to deter Beijing’s actions.
Speaking to reporters at a briefing Wednesday on her recent travels to the Asia-Pacific region, James attributed China’s territorial claims and island building in the South China Sea to Beijing’s desire to “extend their reach” as a global power.
“We have assessed that there is militarization going on in some of these islands–not all, but some. There are air strips on some of the islands. There are command-and-control towers on some of the islands,” James explained when asked to comment on China’s ambitions in the South China Sea. “There is nothing else you can read into that than that is a militarization to project power to do something. And what might that something be? You can only speculate.”
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