John McCain is done pussyfooting around with China

A powerful Senate hawk is warning that China may take aggressive moves in the South China Sea in the next few weeks ahead of an international court ruling — and he’s calling for the U.S. Navy to stop them.

China is undermining international law and picking on its neighbors, argues Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, in a recent editorial.

“Over the past several years, China has acted less like a ‘responsible stakeholder’ in the rules-based order in the Asia-Pacific region and more like a bully,” McCain wrote in an April 12 editorial in Financial Times.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Netherlands is expected to rule in June on a case brought against China’s claims in the South China Sea by the Philippines. China may try to build new islands or declare part or all of the South China Sea an Air Defense Identification Zone, McCain warned.

An ADIZ is a zone of airspace controlled and enforced by a government. A 2013 ADIZ created by China over the Japanese-held Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea has been largely condemned and ignored by the U.S. and its allies in the region.

McCain, a retired Navy captain who received the Silver Star for resisting his captors during the Vietnam war, is calling for a “freedom of the seas campaign” to counter China’s claims.

As part of the campaign, he is urging the U.S. to sail its carrier strike group by Scarborough Shoal. This reef about 140 miles from the Philippines capital of Manila is a flashpoint in the South China Sea. China seized it in 2012. If China opts to set up radars and missile batteries there, they could menace U.S. forces in the Philippines, strategists say.
“The administration should consider having its carrier strike group patrol the waters near Scarborough Shoal in a visible display of U.S. combat power,” McCain wrote.
Carrier John C. Stennis is operating in the South China Sea, and has been since the end of March, according to U.S. Pacific Fleet.

The campaign would also include stepped up freedom of navigation patrols around Chinese-claimed features and artificial islands, as well as increasing the number of patrol days in the hotly contested sea. The administration should also move more naval, air and ground forces into the region and reaffirm its commitment to the Philippines mutual defense pact, McCain said.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced Friday that troops and combat aircraft would be deploying to the Philippines as defense cooperation has been deepening between the two counties.