In a terse statement, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the Lassen entered the waters “illegally” and without the approval of the Chinese government, “threatening China’s sovereignty and security interests”.
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China says the construction work is primarily designed for civilian use and will not affect freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. This diplomatic offensive has gone hand-in-hand with new basing arrangements with Australia and the Philippines, the strengthening of defence ties throughout the region, and military redeployments to ensure that 60 percent of USA naval and air assets are located in the Indo-Pacific by 2020.
The USS Lassen sailed in the Spratly archipelago on Tuesday as a challenge to China’s claim over the islands.
The reefs, which were submerged, were turned into islands by China by a massive dredging project which began in late 2013.
Harris, who has criticized China for moving “walls of sand” to create the artificial islands, has been an outspoken proponent of freedom-of-navigation patrols and has warned that the United States will conduct such forays whenever it sees fit.
Previously, China’s Foreign Ministry said that the country will “never allow any country to violate China’s territorial waters and airspace in the Spratly Islands, in the name of protecting freedom of navigation and overflight”.
The US Navy will send more warships to sail close to artificial islands built by Beijing in the South China Sea, a USA official said on Tuesday.
Asked on Tuesday about the patrol, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said he could not discuss details about military operations, but added: “Our freedom of navigation operations do not assert any specific U.S. rights”.
According to Bloomberg, a patrol by the USS Lassen prompted an angry response by Beijing, coming just weeks after Xi met with US President Obama in Washington. For Beijing, one of those “core interests” is safeguarding China’s territorial integrity and sovereignty claims, which have progressively expanded from peripheral restive regions such as Tibet and Xinjiang to Taiwan and, in more recent years, much of the South China Sea.
The Philippines, which has filed an arbitration case with the United Nations questioning China’s sweeping claims over the sea, led U.S. allies in the region in hailing the warship’s passage through the disputed waters.
“China is very concerned that if a hostile external maritime power controls the waterway and decides to choke off the Chinese shipment, then China’s economic development may grind to a halt”, Wang said.
“I can’t speak for China and what they interpreted it as or not”.
The scholar said ASEAN should take a unanimous stance against this United States action and condemn it because the USA is interfering in regional affairs.
Yin Zhuo, head of the Information Technology Commission of the PLA Navy, said there is no foundation in global law to support the intrusion by the Lassen. But the Spratlys also have a strategic location, since about one-third of the world’s commerce passes through the South China Sea. Sullivan interrupted him. “Did we send a destroyer yesterday inside the 12-mile zone?” China said they were there as part of a routine drill following exercises with Russian Federation.
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Commentary in Chinese state media was relatively restrained, calling for China to keep a cool head in the face of American provocations.
