China cannot “pick and choose” principles it wants to benefit from and those it prefers to try to undercut, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter has said, amid flexing of muscles by Beijing in the disputed South China Sea.
Noting that the US has “serious concerns” over China’s recent actions, including in the seas, Carter said principles are meant to apply to every nation “equally”. “The United States still has serious concerns with some of China’s recent actions on the seas, in cyberspace, and elsewhere,” he said.