US admiral warns about China, Russia presence in Pacific

Head of the US military's Pacific Command Admiral Samuel Locklear has warned about the growing military activity of China and Russia in the Asia-Pacific region.

Speaking to the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, Locklear said Beijing wants to deploy long-range radar and advanced missile systems on the South China Sea in order to exert more influence over the area.

He said China has several construction projects at eight outposts in the Paracel and Spratly island chains and one of them is an airfield at Fiery Cross Reef.

Locklear said the artificial islands planned by China will provide the nation with basing and resupply for its large fleet of maritime security vessels and the country would be able to deploy missiles and radar on the islands.

"It allows them to exert basically greater influence over what's now a contested area," the commander of US forces in the Pacific said.

Relations between Washington and Beijing have deteriorated after China declared an air defense zone over the East China Sea in 2013.

The US has also tense relations with Russia over the crisis in Ukraine.

Admiral Locklear also noted that the Russian military has increased its exercises near the United States in the past months and it has a greater presence in Southeast Asia this year.

The admiral added that Moscow is currently improving its strategic nuclear deterrent on its east coast in the northern Pacific and its submarine forces, which operate in the Arctic and in Northeast Asia.

In an interview with Press TV last week, anti-war activist Bruce Gagnon said the United States is creating a false sense of fear about China’s threat to justify investing more on the country’s military.

“China actually has very few nuclear weapons which they really use as a deterrent; it’s not an offensive system,” said Gagnon, the coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space.

However, Washington’s deployment of its missile systems to the Asia-Pacific region forced China to move its vulnerable underground nuclear missiles to its stealthiest submarines to make them survivable, Gagnon said.

“The US uses that to claim that China is being more aggressive and might actually attack the United States,” he said.

“So this builds fear back here at home in the United States which then justifies more money for the Pentagon and… we have to cut social programs, food stamps, ‘meals on wheels’ for the elderly, education, healthcare, fixing our roads and bridges, all these kinds of programs are all being attacked and cut today,” he noted.

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