US needs to get out of Asia-Pacific region: Ex-Pentagon official
The United States needs to get out of the Asia-Pacific region and China is right to extend its influence in its own region, according to a former Pentagon official.
Michael Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst at the US Defense Department, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Sunday while commenting on a report which says the United States Navy is assessing the launch of a sensitive new operation sending warships through the Taiwan Strait amid heightened tensions with China.
Officials told Reuters on Saturday that US military forces were mulling the idea of sending warships through the Taiwan Strait to guarantee free passage through the key waterway.
The source noted that the move could ratchet up already high tensions with China over trade and relations with self-governing Taiwan.
In July, a pair of the US Navy's guided-missile destroyers passed through the Taiwan Strait.
Maloof said that “this is really creating an increased crisis between the United States and China and it’s not going to abate any time soon because the US is really trying to re-position itself back in Asia and extend its influence.”
“And by challenging China to do this particularly in areas where other countries have also claimed mineral rights and mineral resources that China says no other country can claim, the United States shows it’s committed to defend their mineral rights in deep open waters. So this whole thing is not going to go away soon,” he added.
“We’re talking about countries such as India, Vietnam, and the Philippines. And the other thing the United States is concerned about is that China is building up remote islands up to the point where they can actually position military forces on them,” he said.
“And this is relatively unprecedented because basically it’s creating an island for military bases on them. Perhaps there’s nothing in international law prevents that frankly,” he noted.
“So this is again a way for China to extend its influence in its own region which I want to emphasize, but also to tell the United States that this is not their area and they need to get out,” he stated.
“So I think this is an issue that’s not going away. It’s going to become even more serious. And we could perhaps see some bitter confrontation particularly in light of the trade war dispute that the United States and China have going right now,” the analyst observed.
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