Former US Navy chief urges peaceful resolution to S China Sea disputes
Admiral Gary Roughead, the retired chief of naval operations. (Photo courtesy of US Navy)
Gary Roughead, former US chief of naval operation, said China must solve its territorial dispute with Vietnam and the Philippines in the South China Sea through peaceful means in an interview with China's Global Times last year.
Daniel Russel, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, visited Manila between Jan. 20-21, urging China not to escalate tensions with its neighbors in Southeast Asia. Roughead had already given Washington's bottom line regarding disputes in the South China Sea during a trip to Beijing last year, wrote Duowei News, an outlet operated by overseas Chinese.
Roughead told the Global Times that while the United States is obliged to defend the Diaoyutai islands (Senkaku to Japan, Diaoyu to China) under Japanese administration in the East China Sea due to the mutual security treaty between Washington and Tokyo, neither China, Vietnam nor the Philippines should be the first to fire a shot in the South China Sea. He declined to speculate however under what circumstances the US would go to warr with China.
Instead, Roughead said, it is more important for China's leadership to learn how to settle its disputes with Vietnam and the Philippines in peaceful ways. After the People's Liberation Army Navy took part in the RIMPAC 2014 joint naval exercise held by the US in Hawaii for the first time, he suggested China should invite the United States and other nations to take part in its own military exercises.
Roughead said the United States and China should begin to think about working together to maintain peace and stability in both the Pacific and Indian oceans. The retired admiral said a joint mechanism must be established to prevent disputes between China and other states in the region from escalating into armed conflict.
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