Shanahan to call out China over South China Sea

SINGAPORE (AP) — Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan says he will call out China's bad behavior in a speech Saturday, including what he termed the excessive militarization of manmade islands in the South China Sea.

Shanahan says China's installation of long runways and surface-to-air missiles on the outposts amounts to "overkill" and goes beyond defensive measures.

He spoke to reporters just before meeting with Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe at the Shangri-La Dialogue national security conference.

His remarks underscore America's frayed relations with China, as the Trump administration wages a trade war with Beijing, imposes sanctions on Chinese tech giant Huawei and approves a weapons sale to Taiwan, the self-ruled island the Communist mainland claims as its own territory.

The Pentagon says Shanahan and Wei discussed ways to build better military relations.

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