Mattis, Chinese counterpart discuss disputed sea
- by Jerome Frank
- in World News
- — Oct 21, 2018
"I think that all of us joining hands together - ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] allies and partners - and we affirm as we do so that no single nation can rewrite the global rules to the road and expect all nations large and small to respect those rules", the secretary of defense said Friday after meeting with Japanese and South Korean officials in Singapore, The Hill reported.
Schriver said he believed that sentiment was shared by China's military, noting that it recently requested Thursday's talks in Singapore after Beijing decided against a planned Mattis-Wei meeting in China.
In his opening speech at a meeting of ASEAN defence ministers in Singapore, Ng said, "ASEAN's centrality will be further emphasised if we agree on today's proposal for the ASEAN-US maritime exercise next year".
The Pentagon's top official for Asia-Pacific affairs, Randall Schriver, says Mattis described the talks as "straightforward and candid". -China relationship was spilling over into the military arena.
"No single nation can rewrite the worldwide rules of the road, and we expect all nations - large and small - to respect those rules", he added.
Schriver said the discussions covered numerous issues but focused especially on the disputed South China Sea, where Chinese military activity is viewed by Washington as irresponsible and Beijing complains of an inappropriate us military presence.
The meeting focused heavily on the South China Sea, but tensions persist.
Beijing has been providing economic aid to Southeast Asian nations with the aim of making them its ally.
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"Two nuclear-armed powers with regional, if not global, interests - we need to make sure that when we step on one another's toes, it doesn't escalate into something that would be catastrophic", Schriver told reporters traveling with Mattis.
Military-to-military ties have always been one of the more fragile parts of the overall U.S. But U.S. officials say they sense relations with the Chinese military may be stabilizing after a rocky few months.
Mattis, speaking to reporters as he flew to Asia this week, rejected Chinese claims that the United States was acting aggressively and pointed the finger at Beijing.
Mattis's attempts to carve a better relationship with the Chinese military stands in contrast to the anti-Chinese rhetoric from the White House.
As part of this, the navies of China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) are set to hold their first joint drills, which will take place in the South China Sea.
"They do face potential risk angering China", Schriver said.
Beijing's expansive claims to the South China Sea have always been a source of friction with rival claimants in Southeast Asia, as well as the U.S. which has traditionally been the dominant naval power in the area.
Beijing appears ready to normalise its interactions with the American military, a United States defence official said Wednesday, after relations soured during a sanctions spat and trade war.
