The U.S. will continue to confront China’s militarization of man-made islands in the South China Sea, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday in Honolulu, arguing that Beijing hasn’t abided by its promise not to put weapons on the Spratly Islands.

Mattis said American ships are maintaining a “steady drumbeat” of naval operations around the disputed islands, adding that “only one country” seems to be bothered by the vessels’ routine activities.

“We are going out of our way to cooperate with Pacific nations. That’s the way we do business in the world,” Mattis told reporters traveling with him to a national security conference in Singapore. “But we are also going to confront what we believe is out of step with international law, out of step with international tribunals that have spoken on the issue.”

Mattis stopped in Hawaii on his way to the Singapore meeting so that he can attend the ceremony marking the change in leadership at U.S. Pacific Command.

U.S. Navy Adm. Philip Davidson will take over PACOM from Adm. Harry Harris during the change of command today. Harris has been nominated to become the next U.S. ambassador to South Korea.

The United States has long been critical of China’s sweeping sovereignty claims in the South China Sea, disputed by several neighboring governments. On Sunday two U.S. warships sailed close to the Paracel Islands, which lie north of the Spratlys, the latest freedom of navigation operation designed to challenge Beijing’s claims. China protested the maneuver.

UH Manoa ranked in top 2% of universities

The University of Hawaii at Manoa announced Tuesday that it ranked 306th out of 18,000 universities worldwide in the 2018-19 Center for World University Rankings, the largest academic ranking of global universities.

UH Manoa also ranked 105th nationally, 100th for quality of faculty, 245th in influence, 541st in citations and 574th in research output.

“Placing in the top 1.7 percent of universities worldwide is an amazing accomplishment,” interim Chancellor David Lassner said in a news release. “Credit is due to our great faculty — recognizing their research, scholarship, the grants they bring in and the citations of their work. This also recognizes the impact and effectiveness of our alumni, as they share the benefits of their great UH Manoa education with their families, their communities and, indeed, the world.”

The rankings are based on indicators including quality of education, measured by the number of alumni who have won major international awards, prizes and medals; alumni employment, measured by alumni who have held CEO positions at the world’s top companies; quality of faculty, measured by the number of its academics who have won major international awards, prizes and medals; research output, measured by the number of research papers appearing in top-tier journals.

Harvard University ranked No. 1 in the world, followed by Stanford University at No. 2 and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at No. 3.

HAWAII COUNTY

Woman ID’d in Pahala crash

Hawaii County police Tuesday identified an 84-year-old woman who died Monday after a single-car crash in Pahala.

Julia Gonzaga was a front-seat passenger in a 2012 Mazda minivan driven by an 84-year-old Pahala man traveling south on Highway 11 near the 51-mile marker.

Police said the van ran off the west shoulder, hit a rock embankment, veered across the highway and struck the embankment on the east shoulder.

Gonzaga sustained critical injuries and was taken to the Hilo Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 2:08 p.m.