Trump's adviser says US will continue to keep China in check

BANGKOK — President-elect Donald Trump still hasn't made his foreign policy objectives clear, but his senior adviser on national security says the U.S. won't abandon its Asian allies to China's "overreach."

James Woolsey, in an opinion piece published in the South China Morning Post on Thursday, said the new administration would need to reverse defense budget cuts and make sure the U.S. was still the leading military force in the world.

"The U.S. sees itself as the holder of the balance of power in Asia and is likely to remain quite determined to protect its allies against Chinese overreach," said Woolsey, who served as CIA director under President Bill Clinton. "China should realize that our reflexes in Asia are not driven by territorial ambitions."

Over U.S. objections, Beijing has moved to cement its claim to most of the South China Sea, including by building artificial islands and military airstrips atop coral reefs. With Trump's election, many analysts said Trump's isolationist foreign policy will give China more maneuvering room to pursue its territorial claims in the East and South China seas.

During the election campaign, Trump in April said that China's building of man-made islands in the disputed waters was a sign of Beijing's disrespect for America.