Pacific commander raises concerns over China

At a time when some experts say the chances of war with North Korea are the greatest they’ve been in recent years, the head of U.S. Pacific Command on Oahu said the United States also must be prepared for conflict with China.

“I’m hopeful that it won’t come to a conflict with China, but, as we all have to be, we must all be prepared for that if it should come to that,” Adm. Harry Harris testified at a House Armed Services Committee hearing last week.

Harris said at the Asia-­Pacific security hearing that he’s concerned about China’s “aggression” in the South China Sea and that the rising power will try to undermine status quo free passage and trade — referred to as the “rules-based international order” — not just in the Asia-Pacific but on a global scale.

The “increasingly competitive” environment with China necessitates continued dialogue, “but I’ve also been loud and clear that we won’t allow the shared domains to be closed down unilaterally, so we’ll cooperate where we can, but remain ready to confront where we must,” Harris said in a prepared statement.

Harris, who has been hawkish on Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea, is expected to retire in the spring after three years on the job to become the next ambassador to Australia.

Adm. Phil Davidson, the head of the Navy’s East Coast Fleet Forces Command, is expected to be named to the Pacific Command job, Defense News reported. Davidson’s selection would mean continued Navy leadership at the helm of Pacific Command since 1947.

Three former CIA analysts recently warned against Trump administration talk of a limited strike on North Korea to show U.S. resolve, saying it could spiral into a larger war in Northeast Asia.

“Despite appearances at the Olympics, we are now closer to a war on the Korean Peninsula than at any time since 1994, when the Clinton administration considered a military strike” on North Korea to destroy the Yongbyon nuclear facility, the trio said in a Feb. 9 opinion piece in USA Today.

China claims much of the South China Sea as its territory and has challenged military passage near disputed man-made islands that the United States believes are part of international waters.

Harris said China’s island­-building on “reclaimed features” has led to the creation of seven new bases with aircraft hangars, barracks, radars, weapons emplacements and three 10,000-foot runways.

“The pressures that we bring to bear on China are, first, diplomatic,” Harris said. He also complimented China “for the things that they do that are positive” — such as counter-piracy operations in the Horn of Africa.