Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Christopher Miller arrives in Jakarta on Monday (Dec. 7, 2020), beginning his first visit to the Indo-Pacific region since taking over the post last month.
In an earlier statement, the Pentagon said Miller will visit Indonesia and the Philippines to hold talks with defense officials and other senior government officials in both countries on defense relations and ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
In an article published Monday in a Philippine newspaper, Miller said that Beijing’s maritime claims over much of the South China Sea are illegal and invalid according to a 2016 ruling by an international tribunal, yet the Chinese regime has taken advantage of the fact that many countries are dealing with a neo-crowning epidemic to engage in a series of provocations in the South China Sea, using its navy, coast guard and maritime militia to bully its neighbors and advance its own excessive and illegal maritime claims.
Despite the effects of the neo-crown pandemic, he said, the United States has maintained freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea, routine naval and air patrols, and frequent joint exercises with allies and partners, all to ensure that nations have access to this important public domain.
Miller said in the article that the purpose of his trip to the Indo-Pacific was to strengthen the ability to respond to threats through multilateral cooperation and to continue to build ties to push back against the Chinese regime’s coercion.
After visiting Indonesia and the Philippines, Miller will visit the U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific Command in the U.S. state of Hawaii, where he will attend the expanded ASEAN defense ministers’ meeting via video link.
Miller took office as acting secretary of defense last month at the behest of President Trump. He said at the time that the continuation of the National Defense Strategy was one of his three main goals during his time at the Pentagon. The strategy views China and Russia as America’s main adversaries and competes with them by providing U.S. military lethality, strengthening alliances, and improving the operations of the defense establishment.
(Slightly edited.)
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