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Trump taps Pacific Command chief Harry Harris to be South Korea envoy ahead of Kim summit by Jesse Johnson Staff Writer U.S. Pacific Command chief Adm. Harry Harris, nominated to be ambassador to Canberra, will instead fill the long-vacant post of ambassador to South Korea, Australia’s top diplomat said Wednesday. Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she had been informed of the decision by acting U.S. Secretary of State John Sullivan on Tuesday. “While we would have welcomed Adm. Harris here as ambassador to Australia, we understand that there are significant challenges for the United States on the Korean Peninsula,”...

The navy admiral nominated to be the next US ambassador to Australia has told Congress America must prepare for the possibility of war with China, and said it would rely on Australia to help uphold the international rules-based system in the Asia-Pacific. In an excoriating assessment of China’s increasingly muscular posture in the region, Harry Harris said Beijing’s “intent is crystal clear” to dominate the South China Sea and that its military might could soon rival American power “across almost every domain”. Harris, soon to retire as the head of US Pacific Command in Hawaii, told the House armed services...

China urged U.S. to fire Pacific Command chief Harris in return for pressure on North Korea BEIJING – China urged the United States to sack the head of the U.S. Pacific Command in return for exerting more pressure on North Korea amid concerns over its growing nuclear and missile threats, a source close to U.S.-China ties said Saturday. The Chinese leadership headed by President Xi Jinping made the request, through its ambassador in the United States, to dismiss Adm. Harry Harris, known as a hard-liner on China, including with respect to the South China Sea issue, the source said. China’s...

When Mr. Tillerson convened the U.N. Security Council to ask it to act against North Korea (which, of course, it won’t), the Norks answered with another missile launch. That one failed, as did a similar launch earlier in April. President Trump told Reuters in an interview on Thursday that a “major, major conflict” with North Korea was possible over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Mr. Tillerson’s U.N. initiative included a signal that we might negotiate directly with North Korea but only under conditions that we would set. Such negotiations, Tillerson must know, can never occur for two reasons. The...

Speaking at the Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack on Wednesday, the admiral made pointed remarks at the San Francisco 49ers quarterback whose claim to fame is his decision to kneel through the national anthem in a show of solidarity with Black Lives Matter. "You can bet that the men and women we honor today, and those who died that fateful morning 75 years ago, never took a knee and never failed to stand whenever they heard our national anthem being played," Harris said. That line brought the crowd roaring to its...

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba -- On Sunday, the Tribune editorial page asked readers: What should the U.S. do with the Guantanamo Bay detention camp? Harry B. Harris Jr., the commander of the Joint Task Force Guantanamo, offered this essay in response. I lead the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen and civilians responsible for the safe and humane care and custody of the unlawful enemy combatants held here at Guantanamo--a responsibility we take very seriously. The question of what to do with enemy combatants--committed jihadists and terrorists--is relevant and important. As the person responsible for the detention of our nation's enemies...