US Admiral Paparo Vows to Block Indo-Pacific Domination
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- Admiral Samuel Paparo, head of US Pacific Command, told a Malaysia security conference via video link that China and other actors are using "false claims of legitimacy" to justify intimidation, and vowed "we will not let any nation dominate this region."
- Paparo drew a sharp distinction between "rule of law" and "rule by law," calling it "the defining fault line of our time," and stressed the US is "deterring China through strength, not through confrontation."
- The Philippines has been at the center of repeated confrontations with China around a disputed shoal — including water cannon attacks and blocked resupply missions — while China rejects the accusations and maintains its territorial claims.
- Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro vowed Manila will continue to "push back" and broadened the complaint beyond the South China Sea, citing a recent Chinese ballistic missile launch into the Pacific Ocean as evidence of Beijing's "expanding reach."
- ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn said negotiations with China on a South China Sea code of conduct have progressed "dramatically" and could be finalized "within this year."
Why it matters: ASEAN's Kao Kim Hourn said a South China Sea code of conduct with China could close within this year, even as Philippine Defense Secretary Teodoro expanded Manila's complaints beyond the disputed shoal to include China's recent ballistic missile launch into the Pacific. The convergence puts Paparo's deterrence-without-confrontation stance to a near-term diplomatic test.
