Carter Calls For ‘Immediate & Complete Halt’ To South China Sea Island Building

WASHINGTON, D.C. – September 18, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Carter Calls For ‘Immediate & Complete Halt’ To South China Sea Island Building “Just as the White House confirmed Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit at the end of this month, Defense Secretary Ash Carter issued a clear call for “an immediate and lasting halt to land reclamation by all claimants” in the South China Sea. China, of course, has done the vast majority of the island-building. “We also oppose any further militarization of disputed features. We all know there is no military solution to the South China Sea disputes. Right now, at this critical juncture, is the time for renewed diplomacy, focused on a finding a lasting solution that protects the rights and the interests of all,” Carter told a standing room only audience at the Air Force Association’s annual conference. We hear that these territorial disputes — and the related issue of US rights to travel wherever and whenever it wishes in international waters and airspace — will be high on the agenda during Obama’s discussions with the Chinese president. Also, there are conflicting reports about whether the US tacitly observes a 12 nautical mile limit around the islands, which would seem to raise questions about the vigor with which the US rejects the Chinese claims. One well informed source says US forces are operating under orders to grant the 12-mile limit. But a second source adamantly denies this. “After all, turning an underwater rock into an airfield simply does not afford the rights of sovereignty or permit restrictions on international air or maritime transit,” Carter said. In a clear signal to American allies who have worried that the United States is not sending clear unmistakable messages to Xi and his increasingly assertive country, Carter said that, “China is out of step with both the international rules and norms that underscore the Asia-Pacific’s security architecture, and the regional consensus that favors diplomacy and opposes coercion, including bilateral and multi-lateral exercises, joint operations, and the new US Maritime Security Initiative.” Carter grouped Russia and China together as countries “pursuing military modernization programs to close the technology gap with the United States. They’re developing platforms designed to thwart our traditional advantages of power projection and freedom of movement.” My colleague Tony Capaccio of Bloomberg, acknowledged as the Budget King by most defense reporters, broke the news yesterday that the Pentagon is reshaping its 2017 budget to meet the threats from Russia in particular.” http://breakingdefense.com/2015/09/carter-calls-for-immediate-complete-halt-to-south-china-sea-island-building/

China’s island airstrips to heighten South China Sea underwater rivalry “China’s apparent construction of a third airstrip on its man-made islands in the disputed South China Sea could fill a gap in Beijing’s anti-submarine defenses, complicating operations for the U.S. Navy and its allies, Chinese and Western experts said. While most attention has been on the power projection China would get from its new islands in the Spratly archipelago, China could also use them to hunt rival submarines in and beyond the strategic waterway, they said. Possessing three airstrips more than 1,400 km (870 miles) from the Chinese mainland would enable Beijing to extend the reach of Y-9 surveillance planes and Ka-28 helicopters that are being re-equipped to track submarines, the experts added. A Pentagon report in May noted China lacked a robust anti-submarine warfare capability off its coastline and in deep water. Strengthened anti-submarine capabilities could also help China protect the movements of its Jin-class submarines, capable of carrying nuclear-armed ballistic missiles and which are at the core of China’s nuclear deterrence strategy, said Zhang Baohui, a mainland security specialist at Hong Kong’s Lingnan University. “That would provide greater security for China’s nuclear submarines to survive … and if necessary to execute their orders in wartime,” Zhang told Reuters. “They would be safer than in open oceans where China cannot provide adequate support.” The artificial islands, built on seven reefs over the last two years, will be high on the agenda when Chinese President Xi Jinping has talks with President Barack Obama in Washington next week. Washington has criticized the reclamation and construction. China, increasingly confident about its military firepower, has repeatedly stressed it has “indisputable sovereignty” over the entire Spratlys, saying the islands would be used for civilian and undefined military purposes. Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday said “necessary” construction work would improve conditions on the islands.” http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/17/us-southchinasea-china-submarines-idUSKCN0RH0DA20150917

Obama Hints at Sanctions Against China Over Cyberattacks “President Obama warned on Wednesday that his administration was ready to take action against China over online attacks carried out by Beijing or its proxies, publicly raising the specter of sanctions a week before President Xi Jinping arrives in the United States for a state visit. “We are preparing a number of measures that will indicate to the Chinese that this is not just a matter of us being mildly upset, but is something that will put significant strains on the bilateral relationship if not resolved,” Mr. Obama said in a question-and-answer session with business leaders on economic issues. “We are prepared to take some countervailing actions in order to get their attention.” “My hope,” Mr. Obama added, “is that it gets resolved short of that.” The remarks seemed calibrated to pressure Mr. Xi to agree to address online security concerns, which Mr. Obama said would “probably be one of the biggest topics” of the talks next week. President Obama speaking to troops at Fort Meade, Md., home of the National Security Agency and the United States Cyber Command.News Analysis: Cyberthreat Posed by China and Iran Confounds White HouseSEPT. 15, 201 They also seemed to suggest that while sanctions are unlikely to be imposed on China before the summit meeting, it is increasingly likely that some penalties will be imposed afterward. The public threat of sanctions represented an intensifying of what has until now been a quiet, although increasingly intense, effort to warn the Chinese that the administration will not tolerate recent breaches and thefts of intellectual property, including one at the Office of Personnel Management. That breach, revealed this year, compromised tens of millions of security files of federal employees. Mr. Obama has faced a difficult problem in deciding whether and when to apply sanctions. Some administration officials are concerned about poisoning the atmosphere for Mr. Xi’s visit and some believe that the threat of such penalties could help extract concessions. “They’ve just run out of time to deal with sanctions before this top-level meeting,” said Patrick M. Cronin, the director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. “The administration is, on the one hand, looking for as much cooperation as they can get from Xi Jinping and China’s leadership and, at the same time, saying: ‘Here is the stick of sanctions. We’re not going to use it right now; we’re going to wait to see what you say at the summit about good-faith progress on cyber rules of the road, but if we’re not satisfied, sanctions will follow,’ ” Mr. Cronin said. The breaches were a source of friction last month when Susan E. Rice, the national security adviser, traveled to Beijing to meet with top Chinese officials. And the White House said on Saturday that Meng Jianzhu, a Communist Party envoy, spent much of last week in Washington meeting with American security and intelligence officials on online security issues, including a session with Ms. Rice that involved a “frank and open exchange.” http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/us/politics/obama-hints-at-sanctions-against-china-over-cyberattacks.html?_r=0

Carter: Russia, China Closing Tech Gap “Russia and China continue to close the military technology gap with the United States, Defense Secretary Ash Carter warned Wednesday. While the US remains ahead, that lead is imperiled by slow innovation and a lack of consistent budgets, Carter said in a speech at the Air Force Association’s annual conference outside of Washington. “Our technology remains the best,” Carter said. “At the same time, we can’t ignore the overall trend: High-end military technologies long possessed by only the most advanced foes are finding their way into the hands of both non-state actors and previously much less-capable militaries.” “It’s evident that nations like Russia and China have been pursuing military modernization programs to close the technology gap with the United States,” he continued. “They’re developing platforms designed to thwart our traditional advantages of power projection and freedom of movement. They’re developing and fielding new and advanced aircraft and ballistic, cruise, anti-ship and anti-air missiles that are longer-range and more accurate.” Carter’s comments reflect concerns the secretary has raised since coming to office at the start of the year. But they take on a new dimension given events in the last week, as Russia appears to be moving military forces into Syria to prop up the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.” http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/show-daily/afa/2015/09/16/carter-russia-china-closing-tech-gap/32499653/

For China’s Xi Jinping, strong trade ties ensure a warm welcome in Seattle “When President Xi Jinping arrives in the Emerald City on Tuesday to mingle with aerospace and tech titans, he will complicate matters for the Obama administration, which has been weighing sanctions against China for various cybercrimes. But don’t expect to hear much about the Asian powerhouse’s misdeeds during Xi’s three-day visit to the Puget Sound region. China and Washington state have a 35-year economic and cultural relationship, and the welcome here is expected to be warmer than in Xi’s other U.S. destinations. Washington exports more to China than the other 49 states; in 2014 trade between the two exceeded $29 billion. Former Gov. Gary Locke, who co-chaired the welcome committee for Xi, estimates that exports to China in 2014 supported “close to 90,000 jobs in our state.” The outlines of Xi’s itinerary, announced by current Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday, include a visit to Microsoft’s main campus and Boeing’s Everett, Wash., factory. Xi will deliver the only policy speech of his U.S. trip at a Seattle banquet — all before heading east to meet with Obama and visit the United Nations. “In my view, the best thing President Xi can do when he visits here is address uncertainty,” said John Frisbie, head of the U.S.-China Business Council. That uncertainty includes the Chinese government’s response to the country’s economic slowdown and “uncertainty on strategic issues, too, including cybersecurity.” Xi will be the fourth consecutive Chinese leader to visit Seattle, a record that elected officials here boast about. He also will be the fourth to call on Boeing, underscoring a relationship that began when then-President Nixon arrived in Beijing in 1972 on Air Force One, a Boeing 707. China is the aerospace giant’s largest international market, the company said, and so far in 2015, Chinese customers have taken delivery of a quarter of Boeing’s commercial airline production.” http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-seattle-xijinping-20150917-story.html

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