The US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen sails
in the Pacific Ocean in a November 2009 photo provided by the U.S. Navy. The
U.S. Navy sent a guided-missile destroyer within 12 nautical miles of
artificial islands built by China in the South China Sea on October 27, a U.S.
defense official said, in a challenge to China's territorial claims in the
area.
The U.S. Navy sent a guided-missile destroyer close to China's man-made islands in the disputed South China Sea on Tuesday, drawing an angry rebuke from Beijing, which said it warned and followed the American vessel.
The patrol by the USS Lassen was
the most significant U.S. challenge yet to 12-nautical-mile territorial limits
China asserts around the islands in the Spratly archipelago and could ratchet
up tensions in one of the world's busiest sea lanes.
One U.S. defense official said the USS Lassen sailed
within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef. A second defense official said the
mission, which lasted a few hours, also included Mischief Reef and would be the
first in a series of freedom-of-navigation exercises aimed at testing China's
territorial claims.
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 Chinese government's permission.
"China will resolutely
respond to any country's deliberate provocations. We will continue to closely
monitor the relevant seas and airspace, and take all necessary steps in
accordance with the need," the ministry said in a statement that gave no
details on precisely where the U.S. ship sailed.
"China strongly urges the
U.S. side to conscientiously handle China's serious representations,
immediately correct its mistake and not take any dangerous or provocative acts
that threaten China's sovereignty and security interests," it said.
The second U.S. defense official
said additional patrols would follow in the coming weeks and could also be
conducted around features that Vietnam and the Philippines have built up in the
Spratlys.
"This is something that will
be a regular occurrence, not a one-off event," said the official.
"It's not something that's unique to China."
White House spokesman Josh
Earnest referred questions on any specific operations to the Pentagon but said
the United States had made clear to China the importance of free flow of commerce
in the South China Sea.
The United States had not
conducted a patrol within 12 miles of the seven Chinese outposts since
Beijing
began building the reefs up at the end of 2013. The U.S. Navy last went within
12 miles of Chinese-claimed territory in the Spratlys in 2012.
China claims most of the South
China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of world trade passes every
year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.
RISK OF ESCALATION
The decision to go ahead with the
patrol follows months of deliberation and risks upsetting already strained ties
with China.
"By using a guided-missile
destroyer, rather than smaller vessels ... they are sending a strong
message," said Ian Storey, a South China Sea expert at Singapore's Institute
of South East Asian Studies.
"They have also said,
significantly, that there will be more patrols – so it really now is up to
China how it will respond."
Some experts have said China
would likely resist attempts to make such U.S. actions routine. China's navy
could for example try to block or attempt to surround U.S. vessels, they said,
risking an escalation.
Euan Graham, director of the
International Security Program at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, said while
there was likely to be a strong vocal reaction from China, its military
response could be muted.
The patrol could prompt China to
do more to exert its sovereignty in the region through further reclamations and
greater militarization, he added.
U.S. President Barack Obama
and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands at the end of their news
conference in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing November 12, 2014. Xi
will visit Washington next month for the U.S.-China summit, and it is essential
that Obama use the visit to confront growing territorial insecurity between the
two countries, the author writes.
COMPETING CLAIMS
Both Subi and Mischief Reefs were submerged at high tide
before China began a massive dredging project to turn them into islands in
2014.
Under the U.N. Convention on the
Law of the Sea, 12-nautical mile limits cannot be set around man-made islands
built on previously submerged reefs.
Washington worries that China has
built up its outposts with the aim of extending its military reach in the South
China Sea. China says they will have mainly civilian uses as well as undefined
defense purposes.
The patrol comes just weeks ahead
of a series of Asia-Pacific summits President Barack Obama and Chinese
President Xi Jinping are expected to attend in the second half of November.
Xi surprised U.S. officials after
a meeting with Obama in Washington last month by saying that China had "no
intention to militarize" the islands.
Even before that, however,
satellite photographs had shown the construction of three military-length
airstrips by China in the Spratlys, including one each on Subi and Mischief
reefs.
Some U.S. officials have said
that the plan for patrols was aimed in part at testing Xi's statement on
militarization.
In May, the Chinese navy issued
eight warnings to the crew of a U.S. surveillance aircraft that flew near the
artificial islands but not within the 12-mile limit, reported CNN, which was
aboard the U.S. aircraft.
Pentagon officials say the United
States regularly conducts freedom-of-navigation operations around the world to
challenge excessive maritime claims.
In early September, China sent
naval vessels within 12 miles of the Aleutian Islands off Alaska. China said
they were there as part of a routine drill following exercises with Russia.
