In a stern warning to China, the new Donald Trump administration has vowed to ‘protect its interests’ in disputed South China Sea (SCS) and prevent ‘one country’ from taking over international waters islands.
"I think areas in the South China Sea that are part of international waters and international activities... I think the US is going to make sure that we protect our interests there," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at his first news conference on Monday.
"So it's a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yes, we're gonna make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country," Spicer added.
He was responding to a question related to a recent statement made by Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson that US would deny China access to these islands as they are in international waters.
The US President, Spicer said, understands that China is a big market--for US goods and services.
"When he met the head of Alibaba a couple of weeks ago, that was part of the point. There's huge market issue there. But in many cases, it's not a two-way street," he said.
"There are so many Chinese businesses and individuals frankly, who can have ease of access in the United States to sell their goods or services," he added.
"I think that whether or not you're talking about the financial services or the banking, you know, the other service industries, or our manufacturing goods and services, or some of the IP problems that we have with China, that it really is not a two-way street," Spicer further said.
"So he understands the market that China has and our desire to further penetrate that market. But he also recognises, there's a lot of concerns with how we are treated entering into China's market, and we need to review that," he said in response to a question.
Rex Tillerson had angered China this month by declaring that the US would attempt to prevent China from accessing islands where it has been building runways and other facilities that have potential military use.
Tillerson’s remarks had prompted Chinese state media to say the United States would need to ‘wage war’ to bar China’s access to the islands where it has built military-length air strips and installed weapons systems.
