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Bill Gertz, Inside the Ring, Washington Times

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter was scheduled to travel to China next week, but the visit was put off, according to defense officials. Instead, he will visit India, where closer defense relations are developing amid growing regional tensions in Asia over Chinese military activities. …

An earlier meeting at the Pentagon that was scheduled between Mr. Carter and visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was canceled over what the Pentagon said at the time was a “scheduling conflict.”

However, … Mr. Wang apparently did not want to discuss Pentagon concerns about the deployment of HQ-9 air defense missiles on Woody Island in the Paracels that is claimed by China, Vietnam and several other regional states. The missiles were disclosed in satellite photos the week before the Wang visit.

Instead, the Chinese foreign minister met with Secretary of State John F. Kerry, who diplomatically questioned the foreign minister about Chinese missile deployments on disputed South China Sea islands but did not press the issue. … At a speech in San Francisco March 1, Mr. Carter warned China against “aggressive” action in the South China Sea and said militarization of the islands would produce “specific consequences” he did not specify.

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