The Trump administration keeps talking tough on China with no plans to back it up

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May 2, 2017 4:28 PM

"China cannot be allowed to use its artificial islands to coerce its neighbors or limit freedom of navigation or overflight."

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President Donald Trump's nominee for US ambassador to China continued the administration's tough line on China's development of "artificial islands" in the South China Sea on Tuesday — but there's still no concrete plan to back it up.

"China cannot be allowed to use its artificial islands to coerce its neighbors or limit freedom of navigation or overflight," Iowa Republican Gov. Terry Branstad said at his Senate confirmation hearing.

Branstad's statement echoed Secretary of State Tillerson's tough talk on the South China Sea during his confirmation hearing, where he suggested the US would stop Chinese ships from accessing their artificial islands.

At the time, Bonnie Glaser Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Business Insider that Tillerson's plan would cause the US to "

Other Trump administration officials have since walked back those claims, and overall the administration has said very little about the South China Sea — instead putting the focus on North Korea during talks with China's Xi Jinping.

Meanwhile, China's influence in the region, where five trillion in shipping passes annually, has only grown.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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