The United States plans to sail warships in the South China Sea close to China’s artificial islands to signal it does not recognize Beijing’s territorial claims over the disputed area.
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The ships will sail within the 12-nautical-mile zones that China claims as territory around a few of the islands it has constructed in the Spratly chain, the Financial Times and the Navy Times reported.
“We are looking at this”, the official said, on condition of anonymity.
But he said official and unofficial maps of China from 1136 during the Song Dynasty until the end of the Qing Dynasty in 1912 show that the southernmost territory of China has always been Hainan Island. Other USA allies, including Japan, have taken part in the debate and criticized China for acting “unilaterally and without compromise”.
In 2002, China, along with member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), committed to resolve the South China Sea dispute “in accordance with universally recognized principles of worldwide law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea”. “This trend is particularly egregious in contested waters”.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying informed a daily reports seminar on Thursday that often China appeared to be focusing to this type of reports, so that it as well as having the United States have kept “extremely definite communication” located on the South China Sea concern.
Carpio of the Philippines’ Supreme Court, delivering a lecture hosted by a think tank October 5, issued a challenge to the worldwide community on China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea.
In a carefully worded speech that did not mention China by name, Adm. Scott Swift said Tuesday regional players are defying global law by engaging in maritime activities that could lead to conflict, News Corp.
Xi said at the time that China meant to militarize the islands, but Washington analysts and USA officials say China has already begun creating military facilities, and the only question is how much military hardware it will install.
“In order to deter these actions and prevent further erosion of stability in the region, the United States must make clear that it is fully committed to maintaining freedom of navigation in the South China Sea”, the letter read, calling for a “highly symbolic” passage of Navy ships and aircraft past the islands to send a message to China.
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Admiral Harry Harris, commander of US forces in the Pacific, has said the development of the islands, including building a runway, was of “great concern” and a threat to the region.
