U.S. admiral's "bellicose" speech "distasteful": Australian political writer

It was "distasteful" that the commander of the United States Pacific Fleet, Admiral Harry Harris, decided to ratchet up the heat on China, Australia's biggest trading partner, in his speech at the Australian War Memorial last week, Nicholas Stuart, a well-known political columnist, said in his article published on Canberra Times on Tuesday.

"We should be examining the failure of the political process and the causes of defeat, rather than simply focusing on victory. That's why what happened there (in the Australian War Memorial) last week ... was so distasteful," Stuart said in the article titled "Barbed-wire defence ditched".

"It's worth remembering that although we share a great deal, we aren't inextricably bound to our ally, particularly when visiting a memorial to two world wars where the U.S. only joined up later."

"It's easy to conflate the U.S.'s strategic interests with our own because they are, so often, shared. (But not indivisibly, as became apparent during the Admiral's bellicose speech.)"

Harris, whose country is not a party to the South China Sea disputes, claimed in his speech at the Australian War Memorial that China is "creating a great wall of sand" through land reclamation in the South China Sea.

"Accusing China of engaging in a string of 'provocative action inconsistent with international law' (which, incidentally, the U.S. doesn't recognize either) he sailed directly for China's territorial waters," Stuart said. Endi