The United States should be willing to use military force to oppose Chinese aggression at a disputed reef off the coast of the Philippines, a former commander of US forces in the Pacific told a congressional hearing on Wednesday. Dennis Blair made the recommendation to a Senate panel, a day after an international tribunal invalidated Beijing’s expansive claims in the South China Sea. The objective was not to pick a fight with China at the disputed Scarborough Shoal, but to set a limit on its military coercion, Blair said.

'US should defend PH, disputed seas'. (2016, July 15). Panay News, p. 20.