Images newly released by the Department capture a PLA fighter jet in the course of conducting a coercive and risky intercept against a lawfully operating U.S. asset in the South China Sea. (U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Courtesy Photo)
INDOPAC 2023 — The nominee to lead US Indo Pacific Command offered a stark view today of the increasing number of dangerous actions by People’s Liberation Army ships and aircraft since he took over the Pacific Fleet in 2021.
“They are increasingly provocative and it’s deeply concerning,” Adm. Samuel Paparo told a small group of reporters at the Indo Pacific 2023 conference here. “At times, they’ve hazarded themselves, and they’ve hazarded the people that are in the vessels and aircraft they’ve interacted with.”
Asked if the Chinese pilots and ship captains were acting on their own or not, he said, “I believe they’ve been directed to be more aggressive and they have followed those orders.”
Paparo said the PRC is “pressing unlawful claims, with no basis in international law or custom. And they’re operating under the logic of military power.” The China of President Xi Jinping wants “to create tense, uncomfortable situations in the hope that US and partner forces will vacate the space that every force has a right to be in,” he said.
Adm. Samuel Paparo at the Indo Pacific conference in Sydney, November 2023. (Colin Clark / Breaking Defense)
Some critics have claimed the United States would act in similar fashion to the PLA should Chinese ships or planes make close approaches to US waters. Paparo batted such logic aside.
“When the PRC does turn up by Guam or Alaska, they’re greeted with safe and professional behavior from US units. When we say the United States will sail or fly in international airspace in accordance with international law, we adhere to that for the rights of all states,” the admiral said, also mentioning a Chinese maneuver through a pass in the Aleutians. “While there was a US unit nearby, the US unit conducted itself with impeccable professionalism and seamanship. And when the PRC are in the vicinity of Guam, which is just as American as San Diego, accordingly, the same conventions hold — that is that we’re operating safely in accordance with (the Convention for) International Regulations for the Prevention of Collisions at Sea.”
There’s been concern recently that China might act aggressively while the US and its allies are focused on the wars between Israel and Hamas, and Ukraine and Russia.
“On the matter of distraction, I’ve not seen any distraction from the US government, or the US Department of Defense on the urgency in the Indo-Pacific and the importance strategically to the country,” he said. “And so, as I utter these words, while we talk about how there are two aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean, there are two aircraft carriers in the western Pacific as I utter these words.”
The US is not distracted he said, “not distracted in the slightest.”
