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In an interview with CNBC last week, Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, a top civilian in the industry, expressed concern over China's continued militarization of the China Sea.
"We will always open the open spaces of the international ocean with our warships to make sure our trade and our lines of communication are open, which we will always do," Spencer said.
"If China comes and joins the world and recognizes the international rules and international law of order, we will have good relations," he added. "If they adopt this position, they will use their laws and their understanding of how they will trade and protect their spaces.We will have some sort of discussion about this."
According to a CNN report, over the weekend, a Chinese warship had what the Pentagon called an "unsafe" encounter with an American destroyer.
China closely associates its economic security with the heavily contested water routes of the South China Sea, as more than 64% of its maritime trade passed through the region in 2016. The South China Sea is also a commercial artery. essential for Vietnam, Japan and South Korea.
The South China Sea, home to more than 200 plots of land, serves as a gateway to the world's shipping lanes, where about $ 3.4 trillion in trade is done each year.
The many overlapping sovereign claims on islands, reefs and rocks – many of which disappear at high tide – have transformed the waters into an armed camp. Beijing holds the lion's share of these features with about 27 outposts.
Earlier this year, China installed anti-ship cruise missiles and ground-to-air missile systems at three outposts in the South China Sea. The new coastal defense systems, associated with electronic warfare equipment, represent important additions to Beijing's military portfolio in one of the most disputed regions of the world.
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