CHINA UNLIKELY TO HALT ISLAND CONSTRUCTION IN DISPUTED SEA

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Free Beacon:

China will continue building islands in the disputed waters of the South China Sea but a major conflict in the region over the dispute is unlikely, according to a State Department security report.

 

“Beijing will continue to develop contested territories in the South China Sea,” says the internal report by the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC). “Unlike fishing boats or patrol vessels, infrastructure investments, such as land reclamation and the construction of runways and lighthouses, signal a more permanent presence.”

 

The report’s conclusion that China will continue island-building and militarization in the sea contrasts with the message sent last week by Defense Secretary Ash Carter.

 

In several speeches and comments during a visit to Asia, Carter called on China to halt the building, which to date has produced some 2,000 acres of new islands, and the construction of military facilities and deployment of weapons systems on the islands.

 

Carter told reporters in Vietnam June 1 that the United States wants a “permanent halt to reclamation and militarization” in the South China Sea.

 

“The United States opposes militarization and the creation of tensions in the South China Sea,” Carter said during a visit to Hanoi, which in response to China’s island-building also has been constructing some new sea islands.

 

Carter also said U.S. military ships and aircraft would not be forced by China to stop conducting surveillance flights or ship transits in the sea.

 

“No actions by any party will change the United States’ behavior,” he said. “We will fly and sail and operate wherever international law permits and that will remain unchanged.”