Leading US senators expressed alarm on Thursday at the scale and speed of China's land reclamation in the South China Sea and said a formal US strategy was needed to slow or stop the work. In a letter to US Secretary State John Kerry and US Defense Ash Carter, Republican Senators, John McCain and Bob Corker and Democrats Jack Reed and Bob Menendez said that without a comprehensive strategy, "long-standing interests of the United States, as well as our allies and partners, stand at considerable risk." It said any attempt by China to militarize the artificial islands could have "serious consequences" and could embolden Beijing to declare a new air defense zone in the South China Sea like it announced in 2013 in an area contested with Japan.

China's land reclamation alarms US senators. (2015, March 21). Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A3.