Tue July, 2020, Age: 4 years
In comments at the International Institute for Security Studies on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Mark Esper remarked that the United States would continue operating in the South China Sea. Esper was responding to comments in the Chinese state-funded publication The Global Times, which said, “any US aircraft carrier movement in the region is solely at the pleasure of the PLA.” Esper asserted that the US Navy is operating where international law allows, and pointed to the historic presence of the United States in the region since World War II. These comments came following the State Department’s announcement that the Chinese maritime territorial claims in the South China Sea were unlawful.