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Home : Media : Speeches / Testimony

# Admiral Harris' Speech at Stanford Center - Peking University, Beijing China

By ADM. HARRY B. HARRIS, JR.USPACOM Public Affairs Office

Adm.Harry B. Harris, Commander, U.S. Pacific Command
StanfordCenter – Peking University, Beijing China
"Remarks as Delivered" on 3November 2015
 
Thankyou for inviting me to speak today and to offer my thoughts on theIndo-Asia-Pacific and our military relationship with China.  
 
I’mespecially pleased to chat with Ambassador Baucus’ alma mater.  Between Max Baucus, John Elway, JohnSteinbeck and National Security Advisor Susan Rice, you all are in the majorleagues of academics.
 
I’dbe remiss if I didn’t start by thanking my wife Bruni, who accompanied me onthis trip and has provided valuable insights about the friendliness and spiritof the Chinese people.  Bruni is waysmarter than I am, and way more forward thinking, as demonstrated by her decisionto study in Shanghai as a Cox Scholar in the 1980s.  
 
Sheknew back then what all American students here in China – and the 275,000 Chinesestudents currently in America – know now ... that expanding people-to-peopleconnections will lead to a more prosperous future for both nations.  So I’m honored to be here to shareperspectives with you.
 
Beforewe get to our discussion, I’d like to broadly cover some opportunities andchallenges in this dynamic region and spend a few minutes talking about PacificCommand’s part in America’s whole-of-government Rebalance initiative to thisregion.
 
Forthose of you who may be unfamiliar with Pacific Command, or "PACOM"as we call it ... it's the oldest and largest of America’s geographic militaryCombatant Commands.  PACOM is responsiblefor all U.S. military forces and operations ... from Hollywood to Bollywood ...from polar bears to penguins.
 
Whenyou’re responsible for a region that covers 52 percent of the planet, it’sdifficult to provide a quick overview. So I’ll touch on a few areas to help generate some discussion.
 
PACOMis composed of almost 400,000 military and civilian personnel which includes about60 percent of our naval forces – in fact, we have two aircraft carrier strikegroups operating in the region right now. I report directly to President Obama through Defense SecretaryCarter.  And I consider myself lucky tolead America’s finest Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, Coastguardsmen andDoD civilians.
 
Allof these folks work hard to maintain security and stability in theIndo-Asia-Pacific – a region with the world’s 3 largest and 5 smallest economies.  From a military perspective, the region has 7of the 10 largest standing armies in the world ... 5 nations with nuclear weapons... and 5 of the 7 U.S. defense treaty allies – Australia, Thailand, thePhilippines, Japan and South Korea.
 
Thereare more people living in this region than outside it ... and most projectionsplace 7 out of every 10 people on Earth within the Indo-Asia-Pacific by themiddle of this century.  The implicationsfor the world’s food, energy, and infrastructure requirements make the current rules-basedinternational order essential to maintaining peace and prosperity.  These projections not only point to opportunitiesfor cooperation, they underscore the potential for conflicts as well.  
 
Aboveall else, what these statistics should tell you is that the Indo-Asia-Pacific mattersto the United States – which has always been, and will always be, a Pacificnation, a Pacific leader and a Pacific power.  And even as we confront other challengesaround the globe, including ISIL’s barbarism in the Middle East, we continue tomake progress on the Rebalance to advance our enduring interests in thisregion. 
 
Initiatedby President Obama four years ago, the Rebalance is focused on four areas –political, diplomatic, military, and economic. On the political side, the President hosted India’s Prime Minister Modiand Japan’s Prime Minister Abe in the last several months.  And recently, he hosted China’s President Xi,South Korea’s President Park, and Indonesia’s President Widodo.  And later this month, the President willtravel to the Philippines to attend APEC. So frequent engagements with Asian leaders have been, and will remain, anational priority for the United States.
 
Anotherpart of our Rebalance is the military component – the area I’m responsible for.  The persistent presence of U.S. jointmilitary forces throughout the Indo-Asia-Pacific for the last 70 years hassafeguarded the rules-based international order ... a system that continues tobenefit all nations – including China – by setting the conditions forstability, economic prosperity, and peace. 
 
Weenhance of our military presence by strengthening treaty alliances, buildingnew partnerships, advancing multilateral cooperation, improvinginteroperability, and increasing our readiness to respond to crises.  We are expanding many of our bilateralrelationships into trilateral and multilateral ones.  And our military is actively involved in theASEAN Regional Forum.
 
Whilemilitary activities are the most visible aspect of the Rebalance, the mostimportant facet is economic.  That’s onereason why our leaders are working to pass the Trans Pacific Partnership, oneof the largest trade agreements in history and one that represents 40 percentof the global economy.  It will improvethe economies of all the member nations and it will act as a buffer topotential conflict among members.  
 
Andwhile PACOM works hard to maintain peace and prosperity, as a militarycommander I must also ensure that our forces are first and foremost ready to defendour national interests.  We must be readyto fight if called upon.  There arethreats to peace in this region.  Thebiggest one is North Korea – a nation with an unpredictable leader who is on aquest for nuclear weapons and a missile system that can deliver them throughoutthe region, to include the United States.
 
Thepersistent threat from North Korea is one of the reasons why our alliances withJapan and South Korea are so important. For decades, these alliances have been the foundation of peace andsecurity in Northeast Asia and the cornerstone of U.S. engagement in the region. In fact, I was just in South Korea where I supported U.S. Defense SecretaryCarter in consultative talks with our Korean allies.
 
Now, I knoweveryone here is focused on China-U.S. relations, so let me address itnow.  Some pundits predict a coming clashbetween our nations.  I do not ascribe tothis pessimistic view.  
 
While wecertainly disagree on some topics – the most public being China’s claims in theSouth China Sea and our activities there – there are many areas where we havecommon ground.  For example, President Xiand President Obama just reiterated our nations’commitment to realize the complete and verifiable denuclearization of theKorean Peninsula in peaceful ways.  Chinaparticipated in the world’s largest maritime exercise – RIMPAC – last year andwill do so again next year.  As I addressall of you today, Chinese Navy ships are making a port visit to Mayport, Florida,home of the U.S. 4th Fleet; while the Chinese Hospital Ship PeaceArk is visiting San Diego, home of the U.S. 3rd Fleet.  And later this month, not only will USS Stethemvisit Shanghai, so too will Admiral Scott Swift, the U.S. Pacific Fleetcommander.  In fact, there are 33separate military exchanges in the next two weeks from 4-stars to cadets.
 
As SusanRice recently said, part of our strategy is to deepen engagement with China atevery level so that we can maximize cooperation on areas of mutual interestwhile confronting and managing our disagreements.  I agree with many of my Chinesecounterparts who have emphasized cooperation over confrontation.  I worked to advance this goal during my lasttrip to China in April 2014, where I was part of a delegation that approved theCode for Unplanned Encounters at Sea, or CUES ... an important confidencebuilding measure approved by 21 nations of the Western Pacific Naval Symposiumthat includes the U.S., China, Australia, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines,Thailand, Vietnam, Russia, and many others.
 
Discussingissues of mutual interest and increasing cooperation for militaries to operatetogether are essential.  This allows usto more effectively respond together during crisis.  This was never more evident than the searchto locate missing Malaysian Air Flight 370. Led by our Australian allies, last year’s multinational responseincluded China, the U.S. and many navies. This flight had 239 souls onboard, including 152 from China, and I want toexpress my personal condolences to all those here in China, in Malaysia and allnations, including the United States, who lost loved ones.  We can never know where the next tragedy willstrike this region, but PACOM is working to build bridges that allow us toeffectively respond in cooperative ways.
 
But as recent news headlinesindicate, there remain areas of tension. In my opinion, this is when military-to-military dialogue is neededmost.  Sustained people-to-people contactis one of the best ways we can avoid misunderstanding and militarymiscalculation.  Just last week, the headof the Chinese Navy and the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations talked frankly foran hour about our recent freedom of navigation operations in the South ChinaSea.  And I continue to have personal and candid conversations withChinese military leaders, which is why I’m in China this week.
 
Freeand open access to all shared domains is a fundamental principle of therules-based international order.  And asSecretary Carter just said a couple of days ago, the rules-based internationalorder faces challenges from Russia and, in a different way, from China – with itsambiguous maritime claims to include the so-called 9-dash line that encompassesnearly all of the South China Sea.
 
Toprevent the decomposition of international laws and norms, the United Statescontinues our long tradition of taking a global stand in support of freedom ofnavigation – one of the pillars that protects unimpeded passage on the highseas for the trade that has allowed all nations to develop and fueled theglobal economy that has lifted millions out of poverty ... including here inChina.
 
Internationalseas and airspace belong to everyone and are not the dominion of any singlenation.  By matching our words and ourdiplomacy with routine freedom of navigation operations, we're making it clearthat the United States continues to favor peaceful resolutions to ongoingdisputes, and that our military will continue to fly, sail, and operatewhenever and wherever international law allows. The South China Sea is not - and will not - be an exception. 
 
We’ve been conducting freedom ofnavigation operations all over the world for decades, so no one should besurprised by them.  And we’ve executedthese operations while avoiding military conflict – that remains our goal, toinclude coast guard and civilian vessels that might attempt to act in anunprofessional manner in the future.
 
Itruly believe that these routine operations should never be construed as athreat to any nation.  These operationsserve to protect the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea and airspaceguaranteed to all nations under international law.  The United States takes no position oncompeting sovereignty claims to land features in the South China Sea and weencourage all claimants to solve disputes peacefully, without coercion, and inaccordance with international law.
  
Thatsaid, we must not allow the areas where China and the U.S. disagree to impactour ability to make progress on the areas where we do agree.  Both nations have many mechanisms in place tohelp ensure they don’t – from CUES, to the Military Maritime ConsultativeAgreement, to our recently signed confidence building measures for maritime andaerial operations.  All of thesemechanisms help strengthen our relationship and enable us to better manageareas of disagreement.
 
Ladiesand gentlemen, I’ve gone on long enough, so I’ll wrap up my formal remarks bytelling the story of a guy who went on holiday in the Himalayas.  While he was there, he got the rareopportunity to visit a monastery.  Now,this monastery was on top of a steep mountain and the only way you could get toit was to be pulled up the side of a 300-meter cliff ... in a basket.  
 
Ashe looked up at the rope, he noticed it was fraying a bit, so he asked the monksitting next to him ...“How often do you guys replace the rope?”  
 
Themonk replied ...“Every time it breaks.”
 
Now,that kind of logic doesn’t work for most of us.  There’s simply too much at stake.  We can’t allow the rope to break.  We’ve got to remain proactive in this regionin order to be ready for the challenges we see today and tomorrow.  And, although these challenges aresignificant, they are not insurmountable.
 
During President Xi’s recent visit to the White House,President Obama talked about how there will be times where there aredifferences between our two countries. That’s inevitable.
  
But he also spoke about how we can draw encouragementfrom the ties that have long connected our people so that we can expand cooperationbetween our two nations.  He spoke aboutthe past and how American military airmen during World War Two were shelteredand fed by Chinese villagers.  He spoke aboutvaluable ties that are forged today ... and he specifically mentioned you– students and academics who cross the Pacific to learn from each other.  So while my work as a military commanderrequires me to look through a darker lens and drink through a glass half empty,I encourage you to be optimistic ... to drink from glasses half full ... and tocontinue your work – building people-to-people ties at academic centers ofexcellence like Peking University and Stanford that expands future cooperationbetween the United States and China.  Again, thank youfor inviting me to speak, and with that, we can take a few questions and shareperspectives. **                    SHARE                **                    PRINT