The USS Lassen, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer homeported to Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, came within the 12-nautical-mile territorial limit Beijing claims around its possessions in the Spratly archipelago on Tuesday, signifying the most significant challenge yet to China’s claimed exclusion zones.
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Navy officials said the sail-past was necessary to assert the U.S. position that China’s man-made islands can not be considered sovereign territory with the right to surrounding territorial waters.
China’s foreign ministry said the “relevant authorities” monitored, followed and warned the USS Lassen as it “illegally” entered waters near islands and reefs in the Spratlys without the permission of Beijing.
China has reacted with predictable angry rhetoric to the U.S. Navy sailing one of its ships within 12 nautical miles of China’s new artificial islands in the South China Sea.
The USS Lassen, a guided-missile destroyer, sailed within 22km of at least one of the man-made land formations claimed by China on Tuesday.
“Since the USA announced its intention to sail warships near islands claimed by China, Chinese state media have carried comments by hawks in the military, saying that China would or should respond with force and drive the US ships out of the area”.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said Monday the US would not be required to consult with other nations if it made a decision to conduct freedom of navigation operations in global waters anywhere on the globe.
China’s vice foreign minister Zhang Yesui summoned USA ambassador Max Baucus over the incident, calling the U.S. patrol “extremely irresponsible”, the foreign ministry said on its website.
Australia and China will go ahead with planned joint naval drills despite Canberra’s public support for U.S. naval patrols in the South China Sea, which Beijing blasted as “dangerous and provocative”.
China has kept its territorial ambitions in the South China Sea intentionally vague. Washington worries that China has built up the islands with the aim of extending its military reach in the South China Sea.
Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Taiwan also have claims in the South China Sea and have watched China’s growing influence with concern. While referencing historical claims to the so-called nine-dash line, a boundary that encompasses upwards of 85 percent of the South China Sea, China has never officially claimed sovereignty.
“Freedom of navigation and overflight should not be used as excuse to flex muscle and undermine other countries’ sovereignty and security”, he said.
The USA patrol comes just weeks before Asia-Pacific summits that are expected to be attended by President Xi Jinping and Obama.
President Benigno Aquino’s nation believes China is boosting its military capabilities near where Beijing and Manila are locked in a standoff over islets the Philippines claims.
It said China had always respected freedom of navigation and over-flight in the South China Sea.
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