林中斌 部落格 / Blog Chong-Pin Lin

Trump’s Turn Toward China Curtails Navy Patrols in Disputed Zones

2017/5/2 The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/02/world/asia/navy-south-china-sea.html?_r=1

accessed Mar 4, 2017

●  自從2017 年2 月以來，川普政府已經3 次否決美太平言總部建議，派軍艦至南海以 "自由航行"之名義挑戰中國擴建島礁而宣稱的12海里領海。

川普在年月川習會之後高度依賴習近平的合作以制約發展核子武器的北韓。這是最主要的原因。

之前多年以來，美國海空軍在南海和東海挑戰中國的作為之後會持續嗎？

最後，美國會逐漸默認中國在東亞和西太平洋的勢力範圍。

林中斌 2017.5.4

WASHINGTON — Six weeks ago, the United States Pacific Command requested permission from senior American officials for a United States warship to sail within 12 nautical miles of Scarborough Shoal, a disputed reef in the South China Sea that is claimed by the Philippines and China.

The Navy had good reason to think the request would be granted. During last year’s campaign, Donald J. Trump labeled President Barack Obama as weak in defending international waters in the South China Sea, where Beijing has started a sharp military buildup to reclaim land, install runways and haul equipment onto reefs and shoals it claims as its own. Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, during his confirmation hearing in January, called for China to be denied access to the artificial islands. And foreign policy experts and Asia watchers braced for a return to routine Navy patrols within China’s self-proclaimed territorial waters, something Mr. Obama allowed sparingly.

But instead, the Pacific Command request — and two others by the Navy in February — was turned down by top Pentagon officials before it even made it to President Trump’s desk. More than 100 days into the Trump presidency, no American Navy ship has gone within 12 miles of any of the disputed islands in the South China Sea, Defense Department officials said.

The decision not to challenge China’s territorial claims represents a remarkable deference toward Beijing from an administration that is increasingly turning toward President Xi Jinping for help amid the escalating crisis in the Korean Peninsula. It remained unclear on Tuesday whether it was Defense Secretary Jim Mattis; Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; or one of their deputies who turned down the three requests. Defense officials said the White House was not involved.