Mattis Calls Beijing’s South China Sea Military Moves a Coercion Attempt

U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said the world would have to deal with China’s militarization of the South China Sea for now, but that Beijing would face “larger consequences” in the long term that could persuade it to change track.

Beijing’s deployments of missile batteries and bombers to outposts in disputed areas appear aimed at intimidating neighbors, Mattis told delegates on Saturday at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. The defense secretary said such moves had caused the U.S. to reconsider its “cooperative stance” and disinvite China from the world’s largest annual naval exercise later this month.