China scrambled fighter jets on Tuesday as a
U.S. navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea, a
patrol China denounced as an illegal threat to peace which only went to
show its defense installations in the area were necessary.
Guided missile destroyer the USS William P.
Lawrence traveled within 12 nautical miles (22 km) of Chinese-occupied
Fiery Cross Reef, U.S. Defense Department spokesman Bill Urban said.
The so-called freedom of navigation operation
was undertaken to "challenge excessive maritime claims" by China,
Taiwan, and Vietnam which were seeking to restrict navigation rights in
the South China Sea, Urban said.
"These excessive maritime claims are
inconsistent with international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea
Convention in that they purport to restrict the navigation rights that
the United States and all states are entitled to exercise," Urban said
in an emailed statement.
China and the United States have traded
accusations of militarizing the South China Sea as China undertakes
large-scale land reclamation and construction on disputed features while
the United States has increased its patrols and exercises.
Facilities on Fiery Cross Reef include a
3,000-metre (10,000-foot) runway which the United States
worries China will use to press its extensive territorial claims at the
expense of weaker rivals.
China's Defence Ministry said two fighter jets were scrambled and three warships shadowed the U.S. ship, telling it to leave.
The U.S. patrol "again proves that China's
construction of defensive facilities on the relevant reefs in the Nansha
Islands is completely reasonable and totally necessary", it said,
usingChina's name for the Spratly Islands where much of its reclamation
work is taking place.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the U.S. ship illegally entered Chinese waters.
"This action by the U.S. side
threatened China's sovereignty and security interests, endangered the
staff and facilities on the reef, and damaged regional peace and
stability," he told a daily news briefing.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry waved aside
a question as to whether the U.S. aim was to send a message ahead of a
visit to Asia by President Barack Obama this month.
"This is not a pointed strategy calculated to
do anything except keep a regular process of freedom of navigation
operations underway," he told reporters in London.
SENSITIVE AREA
China claims most of the South China Sea,
through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The
Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping
claims.
The Pentagon last month called on China to
reaffirm it has no plans to deploy military aircraft in the Spratly
Islands after China used a military plane to evacuate sick workers from
Fiery Cross.
"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, including
its large and deep port and 3,000-metre runway," said Ian Storey, a
South China Sea expert at Singapore's ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute.
"The timing is interesting, too. It is a show of U.S. determination ahead of President Obama's trip to Vietnam."
Speaking in Vietnam, Daniel Russel, assistant
secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, said freedom of
navigation operations were important for smaller nations.
"If the world's most powerful navy cannot sail
where international law permits, then what happens to the ships of navy
of smaller countries?" Russel told reporters before news of the
operation was made public.
China has reacted with anger to previous U.S.
freedom of navigation operations, including the overflight of fighter
planes near the disputed Scarborough Shoal last month, and when
long-range U.S. bombers flew near Chinese facilities under construction
on Cuarteron Reef in the Spratlys last November.
U.S. naval officials believe China has plans
to start reclamation and construction activities on Scarborough Shoal,
which sits further north of the Spratlys within the Philippines-claimed
200-nautical-mile (370-km) exclusive economic zone.
Tough-talking city mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who
looks set to become president of the Philippines after an election on
Monday, has proposed multilateral talks on the South China Sea.
A Chinese diplomat warned last week that criticism of China over the South China Sea would rebound like a coiled spring.
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