“This move seems to have been carefully planned and well executed to mitigate as much risk as possible”, said Derek Chollet, a former assistant secretary of defense for worldwide security affairs.
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This May 11, 2015 aerial photo, taken through a glass window of a military plane, shows the site of alleged construction work by China in the South China Sea.
In fact, Carter was simply following White House orders, administration officials said. But other senior officials pushed to delay the sail-by, fearing it would provoke Beijing and hurt other areas of cooperation, U.S. officials told me.
China’s foreign ministry was quick to denounce the move, calling Washington’s action illegitimate.
China Wednesday said the US’ naval and air incursions in the artificial islands in theSouth China Sea will be counter-productive leading to “miscalculation” and “crisis”, as Beijing summoned the American ambassador to protest the US Navy’s sailing of a warship into the disputed waters.
Chen said religious sites in the South China Sea signify Chinese people’s efforts to develop the area.
This specific FONOP was about showing China that the US will not tolerate it using its growing strength to threaten the principle of open sea lanes.
“It is a provocation and violates the United Nations law of the sea and as well as China’s domestic law”, he said.
The Spratly archipelago is closer to the Philippines than to China. “This cycle has become more compressed in recent years, with shorter lulls and more-frequent flare-ups, owing in part to China’s increased desire and capability to advance its claims”. It has completed another such runway in the Spratlys, on Fiery Cross Reef, and is working on a third. Recognising the USA’s absenteeism in the debate, Senator John McCain had commented, ‘We continue to restrict our navy from operating within a 12 nautical mile zone of China’s reclaimed islands, a unsafe mistake that grants de facto recognition of China’s manmade sovereignty claims’. The islands are believed to be rich in natural resources and this suggests the claims by China, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Washington worries that China has built up its outposts with the aim of extending its military reach in the region.
“Neither the United States nor China desires a military conflict, but the key problem is that the core interests of both sides collide in the South China Sea”, said Ni Lexiong, a naval expert at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law. An anonymous United States official was cited, ‘We expect this to happen more frequently than it has in the past.
“The U.S. and its allies and partners should now help the Chinese leadership in saving face, by emphasising that freedom of navigation operations are normal, not extraordinary”, he said.
A foreign ministry spokesman said that the ship had “illegally entered” waters near the islands.
While the Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration will not issue a final ruling until the end of the year, it may be wise for their IT department to invest in more advanced cyber-security systems in case the verdict doesn’t go China’s way. “Therefore, it will be hard for the United states and China to make Korea state its position”.
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But under questioning from lawmakers, he said the USS Lassen had passed within 12 miles of a Chinese artificial island.
