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 The release last week of the surveillance plane footage - showing
dredgers and other ships busily turning remote outcrops into islands
with runways and harbors - helps ensure the issue will dominate an
Asian security forum starting on Friday attended by U.S. Defense
Secretary Ash Carter as well as senior Chinese military officials.
As it pushes ahead with a military “pivot” to Asia partly aimed at
countering China, Washington wants Southeast Asian nations to take a
more united stance against China's rapid acceleration this year of
construction on disputed reefs.
The meeting, the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, will be
overshadowed by the tensions in the South China Sea, where Beijing
has added 1,500 acres to five outposts in the resource-rich Spratly
islands since the start of this year.
"These countries need to own it (the issue)," one U.S. defense
official said on condition of anonymity, adding that it was
counterproductive for the United States to take the lead in
challenging China over the issue.
More unified action by the partners, including the 10-member
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), needed to happen
soon because "if you wait four years, it's done," the official said.
 While some ASEAN members, including U.S. ally the Philippines and
fellow claimant Vietnam, have been vocal critics of Chinese maritime
actions, the group as a whole has been divided on the issue and
reluctant to intervene.
But in a sign of growing alarm, the group's leaders last month
jointly expressed concern that reclamation activity had eroded trust
and could undermine peace in the region.
Experts dismiss the idea of ASEAN-level joint action any time soon
in the South China Sea. "It's absolute fantasy," said Ian Storey of
Singapore’s Institute on South East Asian Studies.
But stepped-up coordination between some states is possible. Japan's
military is considering joining the United States in maritime air
patrols over the sea. Japan and the Philippines are expected to
start talks next week on a framework for the transfer of defense
equipment and technology and to discuss a possible pact on the
status of Japanese military personnel visiting the Philippines.
Carter, speaking in Honolulu en route to Singapore, repeated
Washington's demand that the island-building stop, saying China was
violating the principles of the region's "security architecture" and
the consensus for "non-coercive approaches."
China claims 90 percent of the South China Sea, which is believed to
be rich in oil and gas, with overlapping claims from Brunei,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.
SHOWING CHINA SOME "RESOLVE"
As part of Washington's drive to energize its allies, a U.S. Navy
P-8 reconnaissance plane allowed CNN and Navy camera crews to film
Chinese land reclamation activity in the Spratly islands last week
and release the footage.
"No one wants to wake up one morning and discover that China has
built numerous outposts and, even worse, equipped them with military
systems," Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel said.
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Ernest Bower, a Southeast Asia expert at the Center for Strategic
and International Studies think tank in Washington, said the U.S.
goal was to convince China to buy into the international system for
dispute resolution rather than impose its sweeping territorial
claims on the region.
But in the near term, he added: "I think the Americans are going to
have to show China some resolve."
U.S. officials have said Navy ships may be sent within 12 miles (19
kms) of the Chinese-built islands to show that Washington does not
recognize Beijing's insistence that it has territorial rights there.
Washington is also pressing ahead with its rebalancing towards Asia,
four years after President Barack Obama announced the strategic
shift, even as some countries say it is slow to take shape.
The United States has updated its security agreements with treaty
allies Japan and the Philippines and is bolstering missile defenses
in Japan with an eye on North Korea.
U.S. Marines are training in Australia on a rotational basis,
littoral combat ships are operating out of Singapore and new P-8
reconnaissance planes stationed in Japan have flown missions across
the region.
Overall, defense officials said, the Navy will increase its
footprint by 18 percent between 2014 and 2020. The aim is to have 60
percent of Navy ships oriented toward the Pacific by 2020, compared
to 57 percent currently.
Military officials in the Philippines say the U.S. shift has been
noticeable, including military exercises, training and ship and
aircraft visits. The emphasis has shifted from anti-terrorism to
maritime security, one official said.
China has not shown any sign of being deterred. On Tuesday it held a
groundbreaking ceremony for two lighthouses in the South China Sea,
vowed to increase its "open seas protection," and criticized
neighbors who take "provocative actions" on its reefs and islands.
(Additional reporting by Greg Torode in Hong Kong, Nobuhiro Kubo in
Tokyo, Manuel Mogato in Manila, Sui Lee Wee in Beijing; editing by
David Storey and Stuart Grudgings.)
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