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US Navy’s message to China: We’ll sail near your islands soon

WASHINGTON — The United States is poised to sail warships close to China’s artificial islands in the South China Sea, say Pentagon officials, in a move aimed at signalling to Beijing that Washington does not recognise Chinese territorial claims over the area.

US Marines and their Philippine counterparts at a joint military exercise named PHIBLEX at Zambales province, north-west Manila, yesterday. The US Navy is tipped to sail close to China’s artificial South China Sea islands. Photo: AP

US Marines and their Philippine counterparts at a joint military exercise named PHIBLEX at Zambales province, north-west Manila, yesterday. The US Navy is tipped to sail close to China’s artificial South China Sea islands. Photo: AP

WASHINGTON — The United States is poised to sail warships close to China’s artificial islands in the South China Sea, say Pentagon officials, in a move aimed at signalling to Beijing that Washington does not recognise Chinese territorial claims over the area.

In a sharp response, China yesterday expressed “serious concern” at the development, and called on the US to refrain from any provocation.

The US ships would sail inside the 12-nautical-mile zone that China claims as territory around some of the islands it has constructed in the Spratly chain, the Financial Times and The Washington Post reported.

Asked about the plan, a US Navy spokesman, Commander William Marks, told The Washington Post he could not discuss future operations but added that the US Navy “will continue to operate in international waters in the South China Sea in accordance with international rules of navigation — and do so at a time of our choosing”.

Navy Times had reported that US President Barack Obama’s approval to send US ships into the disputed areas is imminent, citing anonymous defence officials, while a senior US official had also told the Financial Times the manoeuvres were expected to start in the next two weeks.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Thursday he would not comment on future policy decisions, though he added that any such patrols “should not provoke significant reaction from the Chinese. This is something the US has done on several other occasions because the President is committed to the principle of freedom of navigation in the South China Sea”.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said yesterday that China was “seriously concerned” about the reports of impending US naval action. “It needs to be pointed out that China always respects and safeguards the freedom of navigation and overflight that all countries enjoy in the South China Sea as well as other places around the world according to international law,” she said at a regular press briefing in Beijing.

“However, there is no way for us to condone infringement of China’s territorial sea and airspace by any country under the pretext of ‘maintaining the freedom of navigation and overflight’. We urge (the) relevant party to refrain from saying or doing anything provocative and act responsibly in maintaining regional peace and stability,” she said, referring to the US.

Her response was stronger than remarks she had made on Thursday on the issue, when she said: “We hope the US side can objectively and fairly view the current situation in the South China Sea and, with China, genuinely play a constructive role in safeguarding peace and stability in the South China Sea.”

Rival claimants — the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan — have grown increasingly alarmed at China’s assertiveness in the disputed waters through which US$5 trillion (S$7 trillion) in ship-borne trade passes every year.

In the past two years, Beijing has reclaimed thousands of acres of land for airstrips and other military installations. Military experts said the island building is aimed at furthering China’s goal of building a “blue-water navy” that can operate far from shore to enhance its power projection in the Pacific.

Mr Obama said he told Chinese President Xi Jinping he had “significant concerns over land reclamation, construction and the militarisation of disputed areas” when Mr Xi made his first state visit to Washington last month.

While the US has routinely sailed ships through international waters in the South China Sea, it has refrained from sending them inside the 12-nautical-mile zone of the artificial features since 2012, which was before China ramped up its construction activities around the Spratlys.

The new tack is intended to reinforce the US stance that China’s claims are not consistent with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Speaking in Australia this week, Admiral Scott Swift, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, criticised China indirectly by saying “some nations view freedom of the seas as up for grabs” and as something that could be “redefined by domestic law or by reinterpreting international law”.

“Some nations in this region continue to impose superfluous warnings and restrictions on freedom of the seas in their exclusive economic zones and claim territorial water rights that are inconsistent with UNCLOS,” said Admiral Swift. He added that the US will defend freedom of movement in international waters through “routine presence, exercises with allies and partners, and freedom-of-navigation operations”.

Professor Rory Medcalf, an Asia expert at Australian National University, said there were “no easy or risk-free options for challenging China’s passive-aggressive strategy of manufacturing and militarising islands” in the region. “If the US is serious about ensuring that China does not dominate these waters, then the longer it waits, the riskier its freedom-of-navigation activities will become,” he said. AGENCIES

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