On Thursday, a Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman said the country’s military will take “all necessary” measures in response to any future U.S. Navy incursions into what it considers its territorial waters around islands in the South China Sea.
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“[This is] a major blow for China given that the opinion explicitly rejects China’s arguments that… the Philippines has not done enough to negotiate the issues with China”, said Bonnie Glaser, a South China Sea expert at the Centre for Strategic and worldwide Studies, a U.S.-based think tank, as reported by Reuters.
On Tuesday, Washington sent its USS Lassen destroyer within 12 nautical miles of small artificial islands in the South China Sea claimed by Beijing and vowed to send more, sparking fury in China.
Beijing/Washington – The Chinese and USA navies are set to hold high-level talks over tensions in the South China Sea after a U.S. warship challenged Beijing’s territorial assertiveness in the disputed waterway this week.
China stressed its territorial claim over the Nansha (Spratly) Islands, Shisha (Paracel) Islands, Chungsha (Macclesfield Bank) Islands and Tungsha (Pratas) Islands, as well as their surrounding waters.
The Philippines, which has filed an arbitration case with the United Nations questioning China’s sweeping claims over the sea, led USA allies in the region in hailing the warship’s passage through the disputed waters.
He also maintains there is no indication that China wants to endanger regional shipping routes because it benefits from them “disproportionately” compared to the United States.
A USA defense official said the Lassen passed by the Philippine-claimed Zamora Reef (international name: Subi Reef) on which China has constructed an artificial island. Both Beijing and Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines lay claim to the territory.
China was “extremely dissatisfied and resolutely opposed” the US actions, the ministry said.
“The South China Sea is a completely different beast”, said senior researcher at the Chinese Naval Research Institute in Beijing, Li Jie.
China denies that the reclamation operation, creating what US Pacific Fleet commander Harry Harris described in Australia this year as “a great wall of sand”, is meant to have a military role.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Monday that “without confirming any sort of operational decisions have been made, [President Obama] indicated that the United States would operate, fly or sail anywhere that worldwide law allows”, as Obama stood next to President Xi in the Rose Garden last month. The news appeared, when Australia announced that two of its warships will conduct exercise with the Chinese navy in the South China sea next week.
Replying to a question at the briefing, Lu said China’s claims over the area is legal and legitimate and “what U.S. has done is to harm itself”, he said.
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The official said the USS Lassen had been followed for weeks by Chinese vessels before the patrol.
