An American general insisted on Friday the United States would not pull back from operations in the disputed South China Sea to combat Beijing’s territorial claims despite a series of accidents involving US warships.
General Terrence O’Shaughnessy, Pacific Air Forces commander, said the American military still had “credibility... All over the world” despite the incidents, which have raised concerns that the US armed forces are overstretched in Asia.
In the latest incident, the USS John S McCain collided with a tanker off Singapore early Monday, tearing a huge hole in the vessel’s hull and leaving two sailors dead and eight missing. It was the fourth accident involving an American warship in the Pacific this year, two of them fatal.
The McCain had been heading to the city-state after conducting a “freedom of navigation” mission - sailing close to a contested island in the South China Sea in a show of strength to challenge Beijing’s territorial claims.