HONG KONG – A top US naval commander on Monday said Washington plans to boost its military presence in Asia, while warning that China should expand its own forces in a “responsible and constructive” way. The US has expressed concerns about Beijing’s military build up, with the Pentagon saying this month that China was developing “counterspace” weapons that could shoot down satellites or jam signals.
Beijing has become increasingly assertive in its ambitions on the high seas in recent years with plans to roll out its first aircraft carrier as the centrepiece in the emerging power’s growing naval fleet. The former Soviet aircraft carrier called the Varyag is currently being refurbished in the port city of Dalian in northeast China.
Speaking in Hong Kong on Monday Vice Admiral Scott Van Buskirk, commander of the US 7th fleet, said that the carrier “may come as early as this year,” but did not elaborate or say whether it would be fully operational. “It is our sincere hope that as China continues to develop a blue-water navy — one which may soon include an aircraft carrier — it will employ that navy in a way that is responsible and constructive,” he added during a luncheon speech in Hong Kong.
