The U.S. Pacific Fleet commander, Adm. Scott Swift, while speaking to the Pacific 2015 expo in Sydney, Australia, has warned of all out war in the Pacific if regional powers do not respect freedom of the seas and international law. The comments were mainly directed at China’s claim of territorial waters around man-made islands in the South China Sea, although the admiral mentioned other countries such as Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines who see the potential to restrict maritime travel as well. In the audience were the naval officers of at least 12 Pacific nations.
News.com.au reported on the admiral’s remarks, “If we are not willing to commit to resolve these differences peacefully, leveraging the tools of the international rules-based system that has served us so well for so long … then are we willing to accept the likelihood that imposed solutions to these national differences at sea will seek us out in our supposed sanctuaries ashore?
“There is no more direct path to unravelling the foundation on which this region has built its amazing growth and prosperity than one based on ’might makes right’,” Adm. Swift said.
“Some nations in this region continue to impose superfluous warnings and restrictions on freedom of the seas,” he continued. “If even one of these restrictions were successful it would be a major blow to the international rules-based system with ramifications well beyond the maritime domain.”
China is believed to be militarizing the man-made islands and has threatened U.S. naval and air patrols in the area.
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