WASHINGTON: By releasing video of
Beijing's island reclamation work
and considering more assertive
maritime actions, the United States
is signaling a tougher stance over
the South China Sea and trying to
spur Asian partners to more action.
The release last week of the
surveillance plane footage —
showing dredgers and other ships
busily turning remote outcrops into
islands with runways and harbors —
helps ensure the issue will dominate
an Asian security forum starting on
Friday attended by US defense
secretary Ash Carter as well as senior
Chinese military officials.
As it pushes ahead with a military
"pivot" to Asia partly aimed at
countering China, Washington wants
Southeast Asian nations to take a
more united stance against China's
rapid acceleration this year of
construction on disputed reefs.
The meeting, the annual Shangri-La
Dialogue in Singapore, will be
overshadowed by the tensions in the
South China Sea, where Beijing has
added 1,500 acres to five outposts in
the resource-rich Spratly islands
since the start of this year.