China may face ‘consequences’ for militarising South China Sea, warns US

Singapore, June 3: US Secretary of Defence James Mattis on Saturday warned China that it may suffer “cosenquences” for militarising the South China Sea.
“There are consequences that will continue to come home to roost” if China does not find a way to work more collaboratively with nations that have interests in the disputed region, Mattis said at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual security summit in the city state.
China’s militarisation of artificial features in the South China Sea includes the deployment of anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missiles, electronic jammers, and more recently, the landing of bomber aircraft at Woody Island, which has raised concern among neighbouring countries who also lay claim to the area.
“The placement of these weapon systems is tied directly to military use for the purpose of intimidation and coercion,” Mattis said, adding that, “China’s militarization of the Spratlys is also in direct contradiction to President Xi Jinping’s 2015 public assurances in the White House Rose Garden that they would not do this.”
Mattis also said the US will remain engaged In the Indo-Pacific, as its interests are intertwined with the region, .
“So, make no mistake, America is in the Indo-Pacific to stay. This is our priority theater, our interests, and the regions are inextricably intertwined. Our Indo-Pacific strategy makes significant security, economic, and development investments, ones that demonstrate our commitment to allies and partners in support of our vision of a safe, secure, prosperous, and free Indo-Pacific based on shared principles with those nations, large and small.”
Mattis obliquely referred to China’s Belt and Road Initiative and said, “I believe there are much larger consequences in the future when nations lose the rapport of their neighbors, when they believe that piling mountainous debts on their neighbors and somehow removing the freedom of political action is the way to engage with them.”
Beijing has been accused of using sovereign debt to gain political leverage over developing countries that are part of the infrastructure project.
Mattis also highlighted several components of the US Indo-Pacific strategy, pledging to support Asian allies in strengthening the rule of law and protecting maritime borders.
“The US strategy recognizes no one nation can or should dominate the Indo-Pacific.”
He said the US backed the ASEAN’s centrality in the regional security structure and would empower it.
“We continue to support ASEAN centrality in the regional security architecture, and seek to further empower it. The more ASEAN speaks with one voice, the better we can maintain a region free from coercion, one that lives by respect for international law.”
Regarding the ongoing diplomatic efforts with North Korea, Mattis re-stated that Washington’s objective “remains the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.”