“The provocative actions by American military ships and planes lay bare the USA designs to seek gain by creating chaos in the region and again testify to the total correctness and utter necessity of China’s construction of defensive facilities on relevant islands”, the statement said.
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Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the flexing of United States military muscle “in the name of freedom of navigation” was the biggest threat to peace and stability in the area.
Lawrence, a guided-missile destroyer, sailed within 12 nautical miles of a landfill-island recently constructed on Fiery Cross Reef, an area claimed by China and three other countries.
Last year, senior Pentagon officials, including Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, had said that the U.S. Navy would endeavor to increase the frequency of FONOPs in the South China Sea. Lu maintained that the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea has never been curtailed ever since.
But the USA and southeast Asian countries consider China’s territorial claims excessive – the Fiery Cross Reef lies more than 750 miles (1,200 km) from mainland China.
The government is concerned about the recent passage of a USA naval vessel through waters surrounding a disputed islet in the South China Sea, and said Wednesday that it is following the matter closely.
Additionally, U.S. Air Force A-10 Warthogs operating from the Philippines have conducted maritime patrols near the disputed Scarborough Shoal – claimed by both China and the Philippines.
“Fiery Cross is sensitive because it is presumed to be the future hub of Chinese military operations in the South China Sea, given its already extensive infrastructure”, said Ian Storey, a South China Sea expert in Singapore.
The unusual submission has come to light just as judges at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague are poised to rule on the Philippines’ landmark case, brought under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
China and the Philippines accuse each other of infringing on each other’s territory in the South China Sea.
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who won the presidential election Tuesday after his opponents withdrew, riled the Philippine public with controversial statements on rape and extrajudicial killings, but his campaign gained traction for his position on the South China Sea.
“This operation demonstrates, as President Obama has stated, that the United States will fly, sail, and operate wherever global law allows”, said Cmdr.
A U.S. Navy warship sailed within close range of a Chinese-built island in the South China Sea Tuesday, the latest U.S. “freedom of navigation” operation in the increasingly volatile region.
The US operation comes after weeks of escalating military posturing in the waters.
Australian Defence Minister Marise Payne said she supported the U.S. operation which underlined the right of all states under worldwide law to freedom of navigation and overflight.
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China has accused the U.S. of threatening peace in the region, saying that the warship illegally entered Chinese waters near the reef.
