Sen. John McCain said Wednesday that repeated commitments to sail near man-made islands are no longer enough as China deployed surface-to-air missiles to the South China Sea.
The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said the president needs to be more specific about what the U.S. considers militarization, including use of bombers, drones and radar.
Obama “has oddly left it to Beijing to interpret what constitutes militarization in the eyes of the United States,” McCain said in a statement. “I believe any deployment, permanent or temporary, of military articles to features anywhere in the South China Sea constitutes militarization.
“The United States should consider additional options to raise the costs on Beijing’s behavior. Declarations that we remain committed to what amounts to an ever-changing status quo and conducting occasional freedom of navigation operations are inadequate,” he said. “The day-to-day system management that is required to actually shape Beijing’s actions will mean adopting policies with a level of risk that we have been unwilling to consider up to this point.”
China reportedly deployed surface-to-air missiles to a man-made island in the South China Sea that were discovered by commercial satellite imagery. But China said the missiles had been in place for years, CNN reported.
McCain said he looked forward to discussing escalating tensions in the region more with Adm. Harry Harris, the commander of U.S. Pacific Command, who is expected to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.
