US Navy Official: "Aggressive Behavior" of China in the South China Sea Must Be Challenged

(Patria) - China's "aggressive behavior" in the South China Sea, including the use of a water cannon by its coast guard against a Philippine vessel, must be challenged and checked, said the commander of the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet on Sunday, Reuters reported.

Vice Admiral Karl Thomas assured the Philippines that the U.S. would support them in facing "common challenges" in the region, saying: "My forces are here for a reason."

The U.S. Navy's largest forward-deployed fleet, the 7th Fleet, based in Japan, operates up to 70 ships, has about 150 aircraft, and more than 27,000 sailors. It operates over an area of 124 million square kilometers, from bases in Japan, South Korea, and Singapore.

"You have to challenge people who I would say are operating in the gray zone. When they take more and more and push you, you have to push back, you have to sail and operate," Thomas told Reuters. "There is really no better example of aggressive behavior than the activity on August 5th at the shoal," he added.

On August 5, a Chinese coast guard vessel used a water cannon against a Philippine ship carrying supplies for soldiers on the Manila warship, which was deliberately run aground on a shoal in the South China Sea, a disputed area in the rivalry between the U.S. and Beijing in the region.

Thomas said he spoke with Vice Admiral Albert Carlos, head of the Philippine Western Command that oversees the South China Sea, "to understand what his challenges are and to find opportunities to help him."

"We certainly shared challenges. That's why I wanted to better understand how he views the operations he is responsible for. And I want to make sure he understood what I have available," said Thomas, who was in Manila for a port call. He said on Saturday that he joined a flight from Manila "to get out and check the South China Sea."

In 2016, the Philippines won an international arbitration ruling against China, after a tribunal said Beijing's broad claims of sovereignty over most of the South China Sea had no legal basis.

China has built militarized, artificial islands in the South China Sea, and its claim to historical sovereignty overlaps with the exclusive economic zones of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia.