According to US military officials, aircraft carrier John C. Stennis, two destroyers, two cruisers and a Japan-based US Seventh Fleet flagship have sailed into the contested waters of the South China Sea, to counter the presence of China.
Advertisement
China today increased its defence budget by 7.6 per cent to United States dollars 146 billion for this year, citing militarisation of the Asia-Pacific, especially the disputed South China Sea, and deepening tensions with the US.
The Stennis deployed from Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton on January 15.
“Chinese people think it’s not right for American warships to show off force near South China islands”, she said.
“Our ships and aircraft operate routinely throughout the Western Pacific – including the South China Sea – and have for decades”. Clay Doss said in a statement.
China has seized a disputed atoll off the coast of the Philippines in the South China Sea, Philippine media reported on Wednesday, with at least five Chinese ships denying access to Filipino fishermen. Since October, the Navy has conducted two patrols in the South China Sea, including one by guided missile destroyer USS Lassen, which was sent within the 12-nautical mile limit that China claims marks its territorial waters.
“Take a look at the planes and vessels coming in and out of the South China Sea – they’re mostly America’s”, parliament spokeswoman Fu Ying said in Chinese.
Fu made the remarks at a press conference when answering a question from a CBS correspondent about China’s construction of military facilities in the islands and reefs in the South China Sea.
Last summer, CBS News hired a small boat to try to see those artificial islands first-hand.
“Clearly, the Navy and [Department of Defense] is demonstrating its full commitment to presence and freedom of navigation in the region”, said Jerry Hendrix, a retired Navy captain who now serves as an analyst with the Center for a New American Security organization, the Navy Times reported.
China has dismissed such claims, saying the Stennis’s patrol provides evidence of further U.S. attempts for flare-up of military tensions.
Six nations in the region lay claim to parts or all of the disputed islands chains.
The fresh raise of China’s defense budget could put the 2016 defense budget at around 950 billion yuan, or about 146 billion US dollars, up from last year’s 886.9 billion yuan.
These disputes have led to violence in the past.
“Legal principles play an important role in India’s identification as a state”, he said, suggesting that many there view China’s southward excursions as “not just a great power overstepping but [as] fundamentally wrong”.
Advertisement
The issue became more heated when on February 24th it was revealed that China had deployed an advanced surface-to-air missile battery on the nearby Paracel Islands.
