WASHINGTON -- The head of the U.S. Pacific Command urged senators to ratify a major sea treaty Thursday, in light of recent moves by China and Russia toward greater control of the seas, including actions off Alaska's coast.
But Sen. Dan Sullivan questioned whether the military and the White House are being forceful enough with China in an exchange with Navy Admiral Harry Harris Jr., head of the Pacific Command, and Ambassador David Shear, assistant secretary of the Department of Defense, at an Armed Services hearing Thursday.
The long-festering issue of Chinese efforts drew new attention when five Chinese naval vessels were spotted off the coast of Alaska at the tail end of President Barack Obama's visit earlier this month.
The vessels passed within 12 nautical miles of the Aleutian Islands -- within a zone otherwise considered off-limits. But military officials said the move was allowed as it was considered "innocent passage" under international law.
Sullivan said he felt otherwise -- that the U.S. reaction "was muted; it was almost apologetic, relative to the way the Chinese respond when we come within 12 miles of one of their islands."
"I thought it was more of a provocation, and a demonstration of their interest in the Arctic. I'm not sure that this White House would recognize a provocation if it was slapped in the face, and we need to be aware of that," Sullivan said.
Harris said, however, that the Chinese were conducting a long-planned exercise with the Russians in the Northern Pacific. "My opinion is that they went into the Bering Sea to demonstrate their capability to operate that far north, and then they decided to go home," Harris said.
"I think it was coincidental" that Obama was in Alaska at the time, "but I don't know that for a fact. And their transit south was an expeditious trip," Harris said. That is "their right to do under international law, as is our right to do in international law, wherever we operate."
The line of 12 nautical miles is a significant one, senators argued, given recent moves by China to reclaim and militarize "islands" in the South China Sea.
Harris argued during the hearing that given the ongoing push by China and Russia to expand their territory, the U.S. would be on better ground if it signed the United Nations Law of the Sea Treaty. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was first established in 1982, laying out rights and responsibilities for nations with regard to the use of oceans. The European Union and 166 countries have signed it, but not the United States.
Last month, Russia laid claim to nearly half a million square miles of Arctic territory, arguing that under the treaty, the sea bed is part of a natural extension of its land. And in recent weeks, a Russian intelligence vessel sailed near one of Royal Dutch Shell's rigs in the Chukchi Sea.
The Senate is generally reluctant to sign off on treaties, and some argue that doing so could encroach on the United States' sovereignty.
"The lack of signing the treaty doesn't affect our ability to be the strongest nation on the earth. But the lack of signing that treaty puts us at a disadvantage in discussions with … the other countries in the world that have signed the treaty," Harris said. "So we lose nothing by signing off on the treaty, but we lose a lot by not signing it."
The treaty was the basis of Russia's recent claim to large swaths of the Arctic Ocean.
"And when we criticize them for those claims, they say that we have no standing to do so," Harris said.
Harris argued that the loss from not signing the treaty is economic, rather than military.
He said there are U.S. companies that will not "explore in that region beyond the 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone - because they're not sure whether any competing claim will have an affect on them, or whether they will lose in this international tribunal or other places."
China's moves to militarize nearly 3,000 acres of recently claimed areas offshore are significant, Harris said. He pointed to construction of deepwater port facilities and three 10,000-foot runways -- "only 1,000 feet shorter than would be required to land a space shuttle."
"So that gives me great concern militarily," Harris said.
Sullivan argued that the military's hesitance to move within 12 miles of those constructed islands portrays weakness on the part of the U.S.
DOD's Shear refused to say whether there are plans to do so and would only concede that the option is on the table.
"We continue to operate freely in the South China Sea," he said.
Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., scoffed at that, saying it is "a pretty low bar" for success.
Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter has previously said that China's ocean claims -- including area already claimed by South Korea and Japan -- are dubious.
If "we don't follow up on it, it undermines our credibility," Sullivan said. "And that's something we can't afford anymore. Our credibility is undermined everywhere in the world," he said.
With China's massive growth comes "the potential for dangerous miscalculations or conflict," only exacerbated by the ongoing territorial disputes, Shear said in his testimony.
The South China Sea is of key concern for commerce, including $1.2 trillion in shipborne trade bound for the United States that passes through there each year.
"Peacetime freedom of navigation is under pressure. If not handled properly, territorial and maritime disputes in the East and South China Seas could disrupt stability throughout the region," Harris said.
The White House will host a state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sept. 25. During his trip, Xi will also meet with business leaders in Seattle and speak to the the United Nations in New York.