The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee pressed the Pentagon on Thursday to sail Navy ships within 12 miles of artificial islands China is building to assert its territorial claims in the South China Sea.
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Not doing so, he said during a committee hearing on maritime security strategy in the Asia-Pacific, was “a risky mistake that grants de-facto recognition of China’s man-made sovereignty claims”.
USA ships haven’t sailed within the 12-mile boundary since 2012, said David Shear, assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs.
The work has rattled China’s neighbors, in particular US ally the Philippines, and raised concern in the United States.
The Obama administration has bee critical of China’s buildup of the artificial islands and the topic is expected be high on the agenda when Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington next week.
At Friday’s briefing, Hong said China, just like the United States, upholds freedom of navigation in South China Sea.
The U.S. should assert its right of navigation “just as forcefully”, McCain said.
Citing recent satellite footage, USA expert Bonnie Glaser has said China is continuing to reclaim land in the region despite saying it stopped more than a month ago.
While a noisy and relatively shallow operating environment for submarines, the South China Sea has several deep water channels giving access to the Indian and Pacific oceans.
Asked for his military advice, Harris finally acknowledged that “I believe that we should be allowed to exercise freedom of navigation and maritime flight in the South China Sea against those islands”.
“Well it’s an option that hasn’t been exercised in three years”, McCain interjected.
U.S. Pacific commander Admiral Harry Harris said China’s building of airfields on the artificial islands and their further militarization was of “great concern militarily” and posed a threat to all other countries in the region.
“I think it was coincidental but I don’t know that for fact”, Harris said.
“That’s a pretty low bar”, McCain said.
McCain said the restrictionS on United States patrols had continued even after China sent naval vessels within 12 miles of the Aleutian Islands off Alaska last week. “So what we want to see are tensions reduced, not tensions increased”.
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“If you respect the 12 [nautical] mile limit then it’s a de facto sovereignty, agreed to by the Chinese”, he said.
