The guided-missile destroyer USS William P Lawrence travelled within 12 nautical miles of Chinese-occupied Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly archipelago, said Defense Department spokesman Bill Urban.
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The Chinese foreign and defense ministries described the US ship’s maneuver as provocative and said the American operation was justification for Beijing’s construction of military facilities on the island.
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter visited a US aircraft carrier in the South China Sea on April 15, just after Gen. Fan Changlong – China’s most senior military official after President Xi Jinping – toured Fiery Cross.
At his daily press conference, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the presence of the ship in the region “threatened China’s sovereignty and security interests, endangered safety of personnel and facilities on the reef, and jeopardized regional peace and stability”. Taiwan and Vietnam also claim Fiery Cross Reef, and like China, require prior notice for navigation within the 12-mile zone, the statement said. This development is the recent of the series of word war between the U.S and China over this disputed area to which China claims 90 percent.
Under the security pact signed that month, Antonio Bautista Air Base, close to the contested Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, Basa Air Base north of Manila, Fort Magsaysay in Palayan, Lumbia Air Base in Mindanao and Mactan-Benito Ebuen Air Base in Cebu, Reuters reported.
The U.S. Navy on Tuesday sent a warship near a South China Sea reef built up by China, leading Beijing to dispatch jets and issue a stern warning.
This could be the first time that China has scrambled jets from one of its man-made island outposts against a USA warship. Lu said the flexing of US military muscle in the name of freedom of navigation poses the biggest threat to peace and stability in the area.
A Chinese diplomat warned last week that criticism of China over the South China Sea would rebound like a coiled spring.
The destroyer USS William P. Lawrence sailed near a militarized reef claimed by China on Tuesday, the latest move by Washington to counter what it views as Beijing’s growing aggressiveness in the South China Sea.
Responding to the allegation from China, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday that it “is a common understanding among these claimants” what constitutes “excessive” territorial claims and would thus warrant a freedom of navigation exercise.
The South China Sea is a vital Asian shipping lane, through which $5 trillion (4.39 trillion-euros) worth of goods pass each year. It is also claimed by the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
China has added more than 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) of land to its South China Sea island holdings by expanding existing islands or creating new ones by piling sand atop coral reefs.
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Washington has said the Navy will sail and fly wherever permitted by worldwide law and maintains there can be no limits on freedom of navigation as according to established practice.
