Criticizes China

Biden says Beijing’s policies in the South China Sea are adding to tensions and the potential for conflict in the region at a graduation ceremony at a naval academy in Maryland. He says that freedom of navigation and the peaceful resolution of territorial disputes are being tested by Chinese actions in the disputed waters, the source of territorial disputes among several countries, and that the United States’ role is to keep the peace.

They’re building airstrips, the placing of oil rigs, the imposition of unilateral bans on fishing in disputed territories, the declaration of air-defence zones, the reclamation of land, which other countries are doing, but not nearly on the massive scale the Chinese are doing. Tensions run high. As I speak, they run high, but you will be there to keep the peace.

Biden also says that as part of the pivot in US foreign policy towards the Asia-Pacific there would be a significant shift of its military forces into the region.

That’s why 60 per cent of the United States naval forces will be stationed in the Asia Pacific by 2020.