China's 'aggressive' stand in South China Sea should be challenged: US official | World News
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China's "aggressive behaviour" within the South China Sea, together with the usage of water canon by its coast guard towards a Philippine vessel, should be challenged and checked, the commander of the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet stated on Sunday.
Vice Admiral Karl Thomas assured the Philippines of US backing within the face of "shared challenges" within the area, saying: "My forces are out right here for a cause."
The biggest of the U.S. Navy's forward-deployed fleets, the Seventh Fleet, headquartered in Japan, operates as many as 70 ships, has round 150 plane and greater than 27,000 sailors.
It operates over an space of 124 million sq. km (48 million sq. miles) from bases in Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
"It's important to problem individuals I'd say working in a gray zone. Once they're taking a bit of bit increasingly and pushing you, you have to push again, you must sail and function," Thomas advised Reuters.
"There's actually no higher instance of aggressive behaviour than the exercise on 5 August on the shoal," he added.
On Aug. 5, a Chinese language coast guard ship used water cannon towards a Philippine boat carrying provides to troops aboard a warship Manila deliberately grounded on a shoal within the South China sea, a fault line within the rivalry between the U.S. and Beijing within the area.
Thomas stated he had had discussions with Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos, the top of the Philippine Western Command overseeing the South China Sea, "to grasp what his challenges are to seek out alternatives to have the ability to assist him".
"We definitely shared challenges. So I wished to raised perceive how he views the operations that he is liable for. And I need to ensure that he understood what I had obtainable," stated Thomas who was in Manila for a port name.
On Saturday, Thomas stated he joined a flight from Manila "to exit and take a look at the South China Sea".
The Philippines received a global arbitration award towards China in 2016, after a tribunal stated Beijing's sweeping declare to sovereignty over many of the South China Sea had no authorized foundation.
China has constructed militarised, artifical islands within the South China Sea and its declare of historic sovereignty overlaps with the unique financial zones of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.
The Chinese language Embassy in Manila didn't instantly reply to a request for remark.
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