The next commander of U.S. Pacific Command said the U.S. relationship with China is "cooperative but competitive" during sometimes ideological questioning by members of the Senate Armed Services Committee at a recent confirmation hearing that delved into cyberspying and Navy ship strength.

"We are an Asian power. We are a Pacific power. We are a global power," said Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III at the Feb. 9 hearing. "We have interest in that part of the world. And I believe that the Chinese and other people in that part of the world need to recognize that we do have U.S. national interests there and we have the interests of strong allies there."

The South China Sea, with its valuable trade routes and oil and gas reserves, has become an increasingly contentious place and potential flashpoint for competing claims by China, the United States, Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan, among other countries.

Locklear, most recently commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe, U.S. Naval Forces Africa and Allied Joint Forces Command in Naples, Italy, was approved by the Senate on Friday as the next head of U.S. Pacific Command.

A change of command tentatively is scheduled for early March. Locklear is replacing Adm. Robert Willard, who will retire, officials said.

In written answers provided to Armed Services Committee questions, Locklear said China appears to be building the capability to fight and win short-duration, high-intensity conflicts along its periphery.

"Its near-term focus appears to be on preparing for potential contingencies involving Taiwan, and to deter or deny effective intervention in a cross-strait conflict," Locklear said.

"China is also devoting increasing attention and resources to conducting operations beyond Taiwan and China’s immediate periphery," he said.

The United States has been and should remain the "pivotal military power" in the Asia-Pacific region, he said.

At the confirmation hearing, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., pointedly asked Locklear whether China is engaged "in a sustained effort of cyberattacks against this country’s defense infrastructure."

Graham added, "It is widely believed they are."

Graham further questioned Locklear as to whether Locklear thought China’s cyberactions are a "hostile act and whether or not we have the right to respond in kind."

Locklear said "certainly the activity is hostile," but that a legal opinion would be needed beyond that because "there are legalities in warfare that we would have to categorize that."

"But certainly it tends in that direction," he said.

In his written answers, Locklear said the theft of U.S. information and intellectual property is attractive as a low-cost research and development tool for China’s defense industry, and provides insight into potential U.S. vulnerabilities.

The activity creates "significant potential risk on U.S. military activities," he said.

The U.S. reserves the right "to use all necessary means — diplomatic, informational, military and economic — as appropriate and consistent with applicable international law" in response, Locklear said.

U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said it should be of concern that the Navy remains short of its 313-ship goal, with the Pentagon also announcing plans to retire seven cruisers early, retire two amphibious ships and delay buying an amphibious ship, a Virginia-class submarine, two littoral combat ships and eight high-speed vessels.

McCain asked Locklear if that increases risks in the Asia-Pacific region.

Locklear said he’d have to manage those risks.

"It is always difficult, particularly from a Navy perspective, for us to see those type of decisions that have been made and will ultimately be made in budget decisions," Locklear said. "But we will have to manage with the resources that the American people give us, that you authorize us."

The Pentagon advocates the United States joining the Law of the Sea Treaty, an international maritime agreement, to help the U.S. maintain its historic naval presence and free trade through the South China Sea.

China wants to minimize U.S. surveillance, and in one example of a past confrontation, the U.S. Navy dispatched the Pearl Harbor-based destroyer USS Chung-Hoon to the South China Sea in 2009 after Chinese ships blocked the surveillance ship USNS Impeccable.

Locklear said he supports the U.S. joining the treaty, also known as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Having such a tool provides "a better mechanism to be able to have a legal discussion that prevents us from having miscalculated events," Locklear said.

Locklear was asked about the Navy’s Virginia-class submarine performance. Pearl Harbor is the only base in the Pacific for the relatively new class of submarines, which can operate in relatively shallow water.

The Virginia-class submarine has become "the backbone of our attack submarine force today," Locklear said.

"It provides us worldwide coverage in covert ways," he said. "It is a critical element of any combatant commander’s higher-end campaigns or campaign planning."