Rising US concerns about China's naval ambitions

In an April 25 article in The Washington Times, Bill Gertz reported that senior US military commanders had expressed their concerns about China's military build-up in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Gertz' report included the following:

"Admiral Timothy J. Keating, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command... told the committee that the Pacific region remains peaceful, but the United States is closely watching China's military expansion and global outreach.

"Asked by Sen. James H. Webb Jr., Virginia Democrat, about China's global expansion of bases and alliances, Adm. Keating said, 'It is a concern of ours at Pacific Command.'

"U.S. alliances and bases in Asia are designed to "provide an increasingly effective hedge against what may be actual Chinese expansionist policies or, more specifically, Chinese military intentions to move beyond, as you say, just the Taiwan Straits into a blue-water capacity," Adm. Keating said.

"Adm. Keating said China's test of an anti-satellite missile in January likely was intended to show that it has arms that 'could be used in a time of conflict to disable some military systems that would be important to us and others.'

"He also said the encounter in October between a Chinese Song-class submarine and the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier in the western Pacific showed 'we must work to maintain our operational advantage in the face of fast-paced [Chinese navy] modernization and ever-expanding area of operations.'"