China confrontation is test for Obama: Kirk

- US President Barack Obama faces a critical "early test" from China over a tense naval standoff in the South China Sea, and the whole world is watching his response, a US lawmaker cautioned Monday.

"This story will reverberate around the world and will be carefully watched in North Korea, Iran and Syria,"

said Mark Kirk, a US Navy Reservist who was at the Pentagon when the incident occurred Sunday.

"It’s an early test" of the new US president, but "it’s right on schedule,"

Kirk said, noting that China similarly challenged then-president George W. Bush two months after he took office in January 2001.

The Obama administration needs to respond forcefully, perhaps by sending the unarmed surveillance ship "right back into the same area" — this time with a destroyer escort, to make clear Washington cannot be bullied in international waters, said Kirk.

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