Trump secretary of state nominee: China should be denied access to South China Sea islands

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

WORLD NEWS | Wed Jan 11, 2017 | 7:20pm EST

Trump secretary of state nominee: China should be denied access to South China Sea islands

By David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick | WASHINGTON

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of state set a course for a potentially serious confrontation with Beijing on Wednesday, saying China should be denied access to islands it has built in the contested South China Sea.

In comments expected to enrage Beijing, Rex Tillerson told his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee that China's building of islands and putting military assets on those islands was "akin to Russia’s taking Crimea” from Ukraine.

Asked whether he supported a more aggressive posture toward China, he said: “We’re going to have to send China a clear signal that, first, the island-building stops and, second, your access to those islands also is not going to be allowed.”

The former Exxon Mobil Corp chairman and chief executive did not elaborate on what might be done to deny China access to the islands it has built up from South China Sea reefs, equipped with military-length airstrips and fortified with weapons.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-congress-tillerson-china-idUSKBN14V2KZ

[brush]

1. Well, that'll be trump's first war. Don't think China will back down

or the might just call in all our debts to them.