McCain said the United States does not need to confront China in the Asia-Pacific

McCain said the United States does not need to confront China in the Asia-Pacific (Alberta Times) McCain, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on January 17 that the United States will continue to strengthen...

(Alberta Times)

McCain, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on January 17 that the United States will continue to strengthen naval cooperation with its Pacific allies. However, there is no need for the United States to confront China. However, McCain referred to the "South China Sea" as the "West Philippine Sea" in his speech. The new military strategy announced by the White House at the beginning of 2012 marked an important milestone in its 2011 "Striding Back into Asia" strategy, and the posture of besieging China became increasingly obvious. In view of the increasingly intense South China Sea issue, the United States hopes to protect its "national interests" in the South China Sea through its naval and air capabilities and respond to China's military control in the region. McCain and Connecticut Senator Lieberman will begin a three-day trip to Manila on the 17th. The two US officials will discuss maritime security issues with the Philippines. When talking about the South China Sea issue, McCain said that the United States "does not need to engage in any form of confrontation with China." However, McCain also said that it is very important for the United States to strengthen ties with its allies in the region, "especially in the West Philippine Sea." "We believe that it is very important for the United States, the Philippines and other East Asian countries to emphasize the protection of freedom of navigation at sea." Lieberman said the disputed waters are "particularly important" not only to the region but also to the world economy. "We must not allow one country, in this case China, to exercise disproportionate control over these waterways." Lieberman said that the United States' continued strengthening of military forces with the Philippines and expanding its presence in the region will help prevent hostilities. Although the statements of McCain and Lieberman do not directly represent the views of the U.S. government and future policy directions on the South China Sea issue, they have a great influence on the formulation of actual policies and are very similar to the view of building a "new partnership safety network" reached at the South China Sea Strategy Report Conference held in Washington on the 10th. As far as McCain's performance towards the Philippines is concerned, a similar move was actually made as early as January 2011; when McCain met with the Philippine Foreign Minister in Washington, he called on the United States to increase military and political support for Southeast Asian countries in order to counter China on the South China Sea issue. "The United States should help ASEAN countries develop and deploy early warning systems and patrol ships in disputed waters."