China rebuffs Shanahan’s rebuke over military outposts in South China Sea

SHANAHAN DENOUNCES CHINA’S ‘TOOLKIT OF COERCION’: Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan went to Singapore with the intent of laying down a marker, namely that the United States will not accept China’s militarization of man-made islands in the South China Sea and its theft of U.S. technology.

“Perhaps the greatest long-term threat to the vital interests of states across this region comes from actors who seek to undermine, rather than uphold, the rules-based international order,” Shanahan said at the Shangri-La Dialogues, an international security summit held in Singapore.

“We see this manifested in a range of behaviors and activities throughout the Indo-Pacific, a ‘toolkit of coercion,'” Shanahan said, clearly referring to China, while not mentioning the country by name until later in his Saturday speech.

Shanahan accused China of deploying advanced weapons systems to militarize disputed areas, holding the islands with the threat of force, interfering in the domestic politics of other nations, and engaging in predatory lending.

“If the trends in these behaviors continue, artificial features in the global commons could become tollbooths. Sovereignty could become the purview of the powerful,” he said.

CHINA — ‘BULLY US? NO WAY’: China’s answer came the next day in a tough speech by China’s Gen. Wei Fenghe, the first high-level Chinese official to attend the international gathering since 2011.

Fenghe argues it is the United States, not China, that is stoking tensions in the South China Sea by sailing warships near the fortified reefs and man-made islands, which China claims as its territory.

“Some countries outside the region come to the South China Sea to flex muscles, in the name of freedom of navigation. The large-scale force projection and offensive operations in the region are the most serious destabilizing and uncertain factors in the South China Sea,” Fenghe said. “China built limited defense facilities on the islands and reefs for self-defense. Where there are threats, there are defenses. In face of heavily armed warships and military aircraft, how can we stay impervious and not build some defense facilities?”

FIGHTING WORDS: While most of Shanahan’s speech had a conciliatory tone, talking about the need for the U.S. and China to cooperate and compete on friendly terms, Fenghe took a considerably harder line.

On Taiwan: “We will strive for the prospects of peaceful reunification with utmost sincerity and greatest efforts, but we make no promise to renounce the use of force”

On South China Sea islands: “PLA vows not to yield a single inch of the country’s sacred land, but it shall not seize anything from others either. The PLA has no intention to cause anybody trouble, but it is not afraid to face up to troubles. Should anyone risk crossing the bottom line, the PLA will resolutely take action and defeat all enemies.”

On Trade: “If the US wants to talk, we will keep the door open. If they want a fight, we will fight till the end. As what the general public of China says these days, ‘A talk? Welcome. A fight? Ready. Bully us? No way.’”

NEW INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY: On Saturday the Pentagon released its first-ever Indo-Pacific Strategy Report, described as “a comprehensive articulation of DoD’s role within a whole-of-government strategy for the Indo-Pacific region.” The new strategy looks a lot like the old strategy, declaring that the United States is a Pacific nation and citing the Indo-Pacific as the Pentagon’s “priority theater.”

But while calling out China, the strategy calls for dialogue, not military action, to resolve the ongoing disputes. “As the scope of China’s military modernization and the reach of China’s military activities expands, the need for strategic dialogue and safe and professional behavior consistent with international law is crucial,” the report says, while insisting the U.S. “will not accept policies or actions that threaten or undermine the rules-based international order.”

The document calls for keeping a forward deployed joint force “prepared to win any conflict from its onset,” while setting the military relationship between the U.S. and China on “a long-term path of transparency and non-aggression.”

Good Monday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Kelly Jane Torrance (@kjtorrance). Email us here for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter: @dailyondefense.

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HAPPENING TODAY: President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump touched down in the United Kingdom at 4 a.m. Washington time, 9 a.m. in London. The Trumps are to meet with Queen Elizabeth II, and the president has a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May, who stepped down from her post Friday.

Trump will also attend a ceremony in Portsmouth to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of D-Day. The president and Mrs. Trump will also visit Ireland and France before returning home Thursday.

BARE MINIMUM: Trump is expected to be greeted with protests, but both British and American officials played down concerns about demonstrations, while insisting that Trump is being afforded every bit of the usual hospitality during his first state visit to Britain.

But royal watchers said the Trumps will be missing out on many of the trappings of a state visit, such as staying at Buckingham Palace. “Not being invited to speak before Parliament is testament to the fact they know he is going to be rude and there’s going to be massive protests,” said Marlene Koenig, an author and expert on British and European royalty.

ALSO TODAY: Acting Defense Secretary Shanahan is in Seoul, where he met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. South Korean media said Shanahan cited the South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture as contributing to the creation of the “diplomatic room” necessary for a peaceful resolution to the Korean Peninsula issue.

HE’S BACK: Last week, we passed along a report from South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo that Kim Jong Un had executed officials he held responsible for the failed Hanoi summit with President Trump. The paper also reported that Kim Yong-chol, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s counterpart, has been sent to labor camp for reeducation.

But North Korean media published a picture of Kim Yong-chol sitting a few seats away from Kim Jong Un at a musical performance given by the wives of North Korea military officers.

KEEP POLITICS OUT IF IT: While traveling in Asia, Shanahan sent a pointed message back to Washington, as he ordered his chief of staff to find out what happened with the ill-conceived request from some White House staffer to try to keep the USS John S. McCain “out of sight,” during President Trump’s recent visit to Japan.

“Secretary Shanahan directed his chief of staff to speak with the White House military office and reaffirm his mandate that the Department of Defense will not be politicized,” Lt. Col. Joe Buccino, Shanahan’s spokesman, said in a statement provided to reporters traveling with Shanahan. “The chief of staff reported that he did reinforce this message,” Buccino said.

“There is no room for politicizing the military,” Shanahan told reporters on his plane, tweeted Reuters correspondent Idrees Ali.

Over the weekend the Navy confirmed the original report, said it was fully cooperating with the review but insisted nothing was changed as a result. “A request was made to the U.S. Navy to minimize the visibility of USS John S. McCain, however, all ships remained in their normal configuration during the President’s visit,” said Rear Adm. Charlie Brown, the Navy’s top spokesman. “There were also no intentional efforts to explicitly exclude Sailors assigned to USS John S. McCain,” from attending the president’s speech aboard the USS Wasp.

‘MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING’: In an appearance on Fox News Sunday, White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney dismissed the McCain controversy as a media-driven non-story. “This is a minor issue that we think the media’s trying to make into a larger matter,” he told Fox News anchor Chris Wallace.

“The president’s feelings about the former senator are well-known. The fact that a low-level person might have asked a question shouldn’t surprise anybody. We think it’s much ado about nothing,” Mulvaney said.

“If a 23 or 24-year-old person says look, is it really a good idea for this ship to be in the background, that is not an unreasonable question to have, and it’s certainly not something that takes up two minutes of national television on Sunday,” he said.

AWAITING NOMINATION: President Trump announced his intention last month to nominate Patrick Shanahan to fill the spot vacated by Jim Mattis in December, but so far, Shanahan’s nomination has not been sent to the Senate.

GAO REPORT FINDS UNEQUAL JUSTICE: Black, Hispanic, and male service members are more likely than white or female members to be the subjects of criminal investigations and face courts-martial, a new Government Accountability Office report has found.

Among the findings:

• Blacks, Hispanics, and males were more likely than Whites or females to be tried in general and special courts-martial in all military services
• Race was not a statistically significant factor in the likelihood of conviction in general and special courts-martial
• The services do not record information on race and ethnicity the same way, making it more difficult to identify disparities

“While the GAO report numbers are certainly disturbing, they are anything but surprising,” said retired Col. Don Christensen, the former chief prosecutor of the Air Force and president of Protect Our Defenders, an independent advocacy group. “The disproportionate treatment faced by black and Hispanic service members verifies what Protect Our Defenders reported in 2017. What has the Pentagon done in the last two years to address racial disparity in military justice? We call on the Pentagon to follow through on the GAO recommendations to ensure impartial justice for all service members regardless of race.”

IGNOMINIOUS ANNIVERSARY: It’s now been one year since the Pentagon has held what used to be a routine event: an on-camera briefing by a civilian political appointee serving as a spokesman for the Department of Defense. Reporters also no longer hear from the combatant commanders running the wars in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Somalia.

“The long absence in the Pentagon Briefing Room has deprived journalists of an important part of that access and has removed opportunities to compel officials to answer for decisions they make on behalf of the American people,” said veteran Associated Press Robert Burns in a statement to the Washington Post. “We are hopeful that this will change soon,” he said.

The Rundown

New York Times: Acting Defense Chief Sees No Need to Restart Big Military Exercises With South Korea

Washington Examiner: Congress wants Pentagon to rebuild stockpile and close the China missile gap

Washington Examiner: Pentagon turns to coal ash to escape Chinese dominance of rare earth elements

AP: Pompeo Says U.S. Ready To Talk To Iran With ‘No Preconditions’

Washington Post: Pompeo Delivers Unfiltered View Of Trump’s Middle East Peace Plan In Off-The-Record Meeting

AP: B-52, Aircraft Carrier In Mideast Over Iran Conduct Exercise

Wall Street Journal: Russia Pulls Key Military Aid To Venezuela

Defense News: Key US lawmakers want to give Ukraine anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles to counter Russia

USNI News: Navy Building a Land-Based Test Site for Ford-Class Weapons Elevators, But Timing Won’t Help CVN-78

Air Force Magazine: Air Force Proposes Overhauling Officer Promotions, Career Development

New York Times: Congress Weighs Whether To Allow Guantánamo Prisoners To Travel To The U.S. For Medical Care

Calendar

MONDAY | JUNE 3

10:00 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. Brookings Institution discussion “Conflict scenarios with Russia and China.” Speakers: Frank Rose, senior fellow, security and strategy, foreign policy, Brookings; Rush Doshi, postdoctoral fellow – foreign policy, Brookings; Caitlin Talmadge, Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence; Thomas Ehrhard, vice president for defense strategy – The Long Term Strategy Group; Michael O’Hanlon, senior fellow, Brookings. www.brookings.edu

TUESDAY | JUNE 4

8:30 a.m. 1777 F Street, N.W. Council on Foreign Relations conversation with Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Livestreamed at www.cfr.org/event.

8:30 a.m. 300 First Street S.E. National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, the Air Force Association and the Reserve Officers Association forum on “The China Challenge: Connecting Military and Political Dots.” Speakers: Joe Bosco, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; and Matthew Kroenig, professor at Georgetown University. www.afa.org/events

9:30 a.m. G-50 Dirksen. Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the nominations of Air Force Gen. John Raymond to be U.S. Space Commander and Air Force Space Commander and Christopher Scolese to be director of the National Reconnaissance Office. www.armed-services.senate.gov

11 a.m. 2118 Rayburn. House Armed Services Intelligence and Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee markup of HR 2500, the “National Defense Authorization Act for FY2020.” armedservices.house.gov/hearings

10 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. Brooking Institution discussion “How security cooperation advances US interests.” Speaker: Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper, director, Defense Security Cooperation Agency. Moderated by Michael O’Hanlon, senior fellow, Brookiings. www.brookings.edu

Noon. 2212 Rayburn. House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee markup of H R 2500, the “National Defense Authorization Act for FY2020.” armedservices.house.gov/hearings

1 p.m. 2118 Rayburn. House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee markup of HR 2500, the “National Defense Authorization Act for FY2020.” armedservices.house.gov/hearings

2:00 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave N.W. Center for Strategic and International Studies conference on “Collateral Damage? Research Collaboration in an Age of U.S.-China Competition.” Keynote remarks by Norman Augustine, former undersecretary of the Army and former chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin. Followed by a panel discussion with Mikko Huotari, deputy director, Mercator Institute for China Studies; Richard Lester, associate provost for international activities, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Harvey Rishikof, director of policy and cyber security research, University of Maryland; and Stephanie Segal, senior fellow, CSIS. www.csis.org/events

2:30 p.m. 2212 Rayburn. House Armed Services Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee markup of HR 2500, the “National Defense Authorization Act for FY2020.” armedservices.house.gov/hearings

3:30 p.m. 2118 Rayburn. House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee markup of HR 2500, the “National Defense Authorization Act for FY2020.” armedservices.house.gov/hearings

WEDNESDAY | JUNE 5

10 a.m. 901 17th Street N.W. Friends of the National World War II Memorial discussion with World War II veterans who took part in Operation Overlord (D-Day). Speaker: Alex Kershaw, author of “The First Wave: The D-Day Warriors Who Led the Way to Victory in World War II” wwiimemorialfriends.networkforgood.com/events

10:15 a.m. 419 Dirksen. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on “Rule By Fear: 30 Years After Tiananmen Square.” Witnesses: Xiao Qiang, founder and editor-in-chief China Digital Times; Sophie Richardson, Human Rights Watch; Christopher Walker, vice president for studies and analysis, National Endowment for Democracy. www.foreign.senate.gov

4 p.m. 1750 Independence Ave. S.W. Friends of the National World War II Memorial remembrance ceremony and candlelight vigil “to honor all those who died during Operation Overlord, including the reading of the names of those buried at Normandy American Cemetery. www.wwiimemorialfriends.org/volunteer

THURSDAY | JUNE 6

All day. The 75th anniversary of the day in 1944 when nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed along a heavily fortified, 50-mile stretch of French coastline in the historic operation known as D-Day, and began the liberation of German-occupied France.

President Trump participates in a commemoration of the anniversary of the anniversary the Normandy American Cemetery in France.

9 a.m. 216 Hart. American Foreign Policy Council, the University of Texas at Austin Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs,and the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law conference on “Countering China’s Security State: A Bipartisan Approach.” Speakers include Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Christopher Coons, D-Del. www.eventbrite.com/e/countering-chinas-security-state

9:30 a.m. 1501 Lee Highway, Arl. Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Power discussion on “Warfare in the Information Age.” Speaker: Air Force Lt. Gen. Brad Shwedo, director for command, control, communications and computers/cyber, and CIO to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. www.afa.org/events/calendar

10 a.m. 1750 Independence Ave. S.W. Friends of the World War II Memorial commemorate the 75th anniversary of Operation Overlord (D-Day). wwiimemorialfriends.networkforgood.com

11 a.m. 1319 18th Street N.W. Middle East Institute discussion on “Iraq’s Crisis of Governance after the Basra Protests.” Speakers: Akeel Abbas, professor at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani; Basma Alloush, advocacy and communications officer at the Norwegian Refugee Council; Mac Skelton, director of the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani’s Institute of Regional and International Studies; Bilal Wahab, fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy; and Randa Slim, senior fellow and director of the MEI Program on Conflict Resolution and Track II Dialogues. www.mei.edu/events

7 p.m. 700 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. – National Archives film screening and discussion of “The True Glory,” a record of the June 6, 1944 invasion of Normandy and the Allied landing in Europe. Speaker: former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. www.archives.gov

FRIDAY | JUNE 7

8:30 a.m. 300 First Street S.E. National Defense Industrial Association, the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, the Air Force Association, and the Reserve Officers Association forum on “Escalation and Limited Wars with China or Russia?” Speakers: Elbridge Colby, director of defense programs at New America; and James Acton, co-director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Nuclear Policy Program.

WEDNESDAY | JUNE 12

9 a.m. 2201 G. St. N.W. Defense Writers Group breakfast with Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. nationalsecuritymedia.gwu.edu

10 a.m. 2118 Rayburn. House Armed Services full committee markup of the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings.