The USS Lassen is steaming toward the man-made islands, which China has constructed by pouring sand onto coral reefs, said the official who was not authorized to speak publicly about the movement of a ship.
Advertisement
China, however, disputes this interpretation of global law, saying that naval vessels may not sail into its waters without express permission from Beijing.
However, “freedom of navigation and overflight should not be used as excuse to flex muscle and undermine other countries’ sovereignty and security”, Zhu said. In 2001, a Chinese fighter and American signal aircraft flew so close together they collided, killing the Chinese pilot and leading to the capture and internment of the 24-man American crew until the USA apologized for the incident.
The decision to go ahead followed months of deliberation in Washington, but angered China, which said last month it would “never allow any country” to violate what it considers to be its territorial waters and airspace around the islands.
Meanwhile, quoting an unnamed USA official, Reuters reported that the Navy patrol was “a challenge to China’s territorial claims in the area”. However the U.S.is said to be frustrated at continuing Chinese construction in the area – and USA officials have stressed that they are determined to sail through the region to protect what they say is freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce through the area’s busy worldwide shipping lanes.
“You don’t need to consult with any nation when you are exercising the right of freedom of navigation in worldwide waters”, Kirby said. Approximately sixty per cent of Australia’s exports pass through the South China Sea.
Depending on how Beijing frames its response, one silver lining could be improved clarity about the extent of China’s maritime boundaries within the ambiguous U-shaped line in the South China Sea.
What’s more, China has not formally declared a 12-mile territorial sea around its artificial islands. On Monday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest referred questions on specific operations to the Pentagon but reiterated that commitment to freedom of navigation.
Washington worries that China has built up the islands with the aim of extending its military reach in the South China Sea.
China has amassed thousands of acres of these man-made structures, according to a Pentagon report issued in August.
But U.S. Pacific Command commander Adm. Harry Harris Jr., told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on September 17, “the South China Sea is no more China’s than the Gulf of Mexico is Mexico’s”.
With almost $5 trillion in trade passing through its waters annually, the South China Sea is a highly contested region.
Tonight, the Navy will send the USS Lassen through those waters and into the 12 mile buffer zone surrounding the Spratly archipelago in the first of a series of missions into the area. Obama approved the move this month, administration officials said. While China claims most of the sea, there are overlapping claims from Vietnam, Brunei, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Taiwan.
“This is something that will be a regular occurrence, not a one-off event”, said the official.
“The United States has publicly declared its policy of conducting Freedom of Navigation operations globally, consistent with worldwide law”, she said. “We have been clear that we take no position on competing territorial sovereignty claims to land features in the South China Sea”.
“We advise the U.S.to think twice before its action” and “and not to make trouble out of nothing”, Wang said, according to state news agency Xinhau.
China has called for the U.S.to avoid militarizing the dispute by sending a warship through their claimed territorial sea and has pledged not to put military equipment on the island. The transit occurred late Monday evening east coast time, early Tuesday morning in Asia. The naval patrol will likely be carried out in a matter of hours, officials said.
The news of the patrol has not been publicly confirmed.
Advertisement
“The actions of the USA warship have threatened China’s sovereignty and security interests, jeopardized the safety of personnel and facilities on the reefs, and damaged regional peace and stability”, the ministry said in a statement posted on its web site. Earlier this year satellite imagery showed what appeared to be an airstrip capable of accommodating military aircraft, fueling concerns about China’s intentions. China’s controversial land reclamation projects, such as within the Spratlys, or Nansha in Chinese, have created a great deal of tension between Beijing and states that also have shores on the strategically important waterway.
