Defense Secretary Carter Targets China in Naval Academy Graduation Speech

US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said that China’s actions could erect a great wall of country's self-isolation.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States is determined to push back against Chinese militarization of the South China Sea, which threatens to isolate China from the rest of the world, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said in a speech to newly commissioned Navy and Marine Corps officers at the US Naval Academy on Friday.

"China sometimes plays by its own rules," Carter stated. "The result is that China’s actions could erect a great wall of self-isolation."

Carter characterized China’s construction and subsequent militarization of artificial islands in the South China Sea as both expansive and unprecedented.

"We are determined to stand with partners in upholding core principles like freedom of navigation, overflight, free flow of commerce and the peaceful resolution of disputes through legal means and in accordance with international law," Carter claimed.

China claims sovereignty over the entire South China Sea, which contains some of the world’s most crowded international shipping lanes.

In rejecting Chinese claims, the United States frequently conducts exercises with other nations in the region, in which ships and planes deliberately come within the 12-mile international limit of China’s military bases on both sides of the international waterway.