Beijing’s response mirrored its actions in May when a navy dispatcher warned off a US Navy P8-A Poseidon surveillance aircraft as it flew over Fiery Cross Reef, where China has conducted extensive reclamation work.
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The United States navy sent a guided-missile destroyer on patrol within a 12-nautical-mile exclusion area around an artificial island in Spratly Islands on Tuesday.
His ministry knew about the matter in advance, and “not from newspapers”, Kao said while answering lawmakers’ questions at the Legislative Yuan about the high-profile patrol a day earlier by the guided missile destroyer USS Lassen within 12 nautical miles of several reefs claimed by Beijing, including Subi Reef, in the Spratly Islands. A second defence official said the mission, which lasted a few hours, included Mischief Reef and would be the first in a series of freedom-of-navigation exercises aimed at testing China’s territorial claims.
“The Chinese government will resolutely safeguard territorial sovereignty and legal sea interests, and China will do whatever necessary to oppose deliberate provocation from any country”, he said.
With the development on the disputed waters in South China Sea, especially when United States sent its US Navy warship, it is now up to all the countries involved to make the next move.
The U.S. action－quite near to Chinese territory－threatens not only the country’s sovereignty “but also the security of facilities and Chinese personnel stationed on the island”, Zhang said.
‘US forces operate in the Asia-Pacific region on a daily basis, including in the South China Sea, ‘ he added.
Washington’s move followed months of deliberation by the administration of President Barack Obama and could raise tension in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and increase strains in US-China relations.
To keep China-US ties on a healthy track and preserve stability and peace in the Asia-Pacific region, Washington must honor its promise to maintain a neutral position on the South China Sea issue and stop practices that would further disturb the waters there, the agency said. They said such “freedom-of-navigation” patrols were expected to become more frequent. The USA action was part of its “routine operations in the Sea in accordance with global law”, an American official told AFP.
A French frigate has docked at a port in southern China on a four-day visit to China’s South China Sea fleet, China’s military said on Wednesday, amid tensions between China and United States over the disputed waters. But under questioning from legislators, he confirmed that the “USS Lassen had passed within 12 miles of a Chinese artificial island”. Unlike in Europe, water is the organizing element of the continent, which wraps around the East and South China Seas, the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean, as well as countless peripheral lagoons and bays.
Analyst Abuza fears China may also be putting in place an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the area.
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Dr. Nong Hong, Director of the Center for Oceans Law and Policy at the China-based National Institute for South China Sea Studies (NISCSS), shares a similar view.
