SECDEF Austin Headed to Southeast Asia as Tensions Flare in South China Sea

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Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley speak during a press conference in the Pentagon Press Briefing Room, Washington, DC, July 21, 2021. DoD Photo

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will travel to Southeast Asia later this week as China stepped up protests against US military operations in the western Pacific and territorial disputes with the nations bordering the South China Sea.

Austin’s visit includes stops in Singapore, Hanoi, and Manila. He said he plans to emphasize his commitment to ocean freedom and roll back “unhelpful and unfounded claims” by China in the hotly contested South China Sea.

“I will be working closely with our partners to update and modernize our skills and their own abilities to work together to address some changing forms of aggression and coercion that we are all seeing, and I will be talking about this with our friends about it how we will work hand in hand to pursue our new vision of integrated deterrence, ”said Austin.

Earlier this month, the US denied China’s claims that it “drove out” the guided missile destroyer USS Benfold (DDG-65) while it was sailing near the Paracel Islands as part of a free navigation operation. China, Taiwan and Vietnam have claimed the archipelago, and the Chinese have set up several military outposts there. The Benfold incident is one in a series where the US said the Chinese made false claims or acted aggressively about the South China Sea, fueling tension across the region.

This month also marked the five-year anniversary of the ruling by the international court denying China’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea, including taking control of the Scarborough Shoal from the Philippines. Beijing has ignored the Hague ruling and is sticking to its claim of the nine-dash line that would give China control of most of the South China Sea.

Earlier this week, the Philippine Coast Guard said it had chased a Chinese warship out of the western Philippine Sea. In March, the Philippine government asked China to remove hundreds of fishing boats that had moored off a controversial reef in the Spratly Islands, CNN reported. While the Chinese denied that the boats dubbed China’s “Maritime Militia” were up to anything other than routine fishing, Manilla accused Beijing of taking “clear provocative measures to militarize the area.”

Austin’s remarks on Wednesday included Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and an update on the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

That withdrawal is now 95 percent complete and is expected to be completed by the end of August, Milley and Austin said. The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) is stationed in the Middle East to provide assistance when defense in the area is required, Austin said.

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