It's easier for China to assert its maritime power by creating artificial islands in the South China Sea than by defying the U.S. Pacific Fleet with an aircraft carrier.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I don't share the view that China and the U.S. need to reach some kind of strategic accommodation to carve up the Asia-Pacific region - that is an arrogant proposition and deeply insulting to other countries in the region, including Japan and potentially also India and Indonesia.
China is a major power in the Pacific and I think we are dealing with some common threats in that region: the whole issue of Korea and the stability of Korea, the whole issue of nuclear proliferation, the whole issue of providing free access to our ships that are operating in that area.
China's island-building in the South China Sea poses a threat to U.S. national security interests in the region.
What frustrates U.S. officials is that China sometimes seems more comfortable accommodating a strong United States, as it did in past decades, than partnering with an America that's less dominant.
Our policy for the last many years has been to deter the Chinese government in Beijing from ever coming into the position where they thought they had enough leverage over the U.S. to cross the Straits of Taiwan.
China believes that it has the rightful claim to a vast portion of the South China Sea, which is claimed by other countries.
The United States is afraid of China; it is not a military threat to anyone and is the least aggressive of all the major military powers.
My basic advice to the Chinese with respect to the South China Sea is, 'Hey, guys, cool it.'
There are but few naval powers, but there are many land powers.
China has all the advantages in the world. But it doesn't have a history of free thinking, risk-taking pioneers - the kind of people the U.S. is built upon.
No opposing quotes found.