China stiffens islands’ defence in counter to US

BEIJING — China said yesterday that repeated United States Navy patrols in the disputed South China Sea are forcing Beijing to boost the defence capabilities of the islands it controls and may result in more air and sea patrols, amid signs of rising tension between the two countries.

In a strongly-worded statement, China’s Defence Ministry said it deployed two navy fighter jets, one early warning aircraft and three ships to track and warn off the destroyer USS William P Lawrence as it passed the Chinese-occupied Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly archipelago on Tuesday.

“The provocative actions by American military ships and planes lay bare the US designs to seek gain by creating chaos in the region and again testify to the total correctness and utter necessity of China’s construction of defensive facilities on relevant islands,” the ministry said.

“China will increase the scope of sea and air patrols based on need, boost all categories of military capacity building, resolutely defend national sovereignty and security, and resolutely safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea,” the statement added.

The guided-missile destroyer travelled within 12 nautical miles of Fiery Cross Reef, US Defense Department spokesman Bill Urban said on Tuesday.

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, he said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Tuesday the US ship illegally entered Chinese waters.

“This action by the US 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.

The sail-by was Washington’s third freedom-of-navigation operation in the disputed waters in recent months.

Beijing and Washington have previously traded accusations that the other is militarising the South China Sea as China undertakes large-scale land reclamation and construction on the waterway while the US has increased its patrols and exercises in the region. The US has repeatedly said it will sail and fly wherever permitted by international law and maintains there can be no limits on freedom of navigation as according to established practice.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which about US$5 trillion (S$6.9 trillion) in ship-borne trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.

A Pentagon report issued late last year noted that since China’s land reclamation efforts began in December 2013, it had reclaimed more than 1,170ha of land as of June 2015.

China had reclaimed 17 times more land in the period than the other claimants combined over the past 40 years, accounting for approximately 95 per cent of all reclaimed land in the Spratlys, added the report.

Beijing has significantly expanded Fiery Cross — which is around 1,000km from its island province of Hainan — since 2014, building a 3km runway there, which is one of three China has been building up for more than a year by dredging sand onto reefs and atolls in the Spratlys. Early this year, China announced the first successful test landings of civilian airliners on the new airstrip.

The Pentagon last month called on China to reaffirm it has no plans to deploy military aircraft in the disputed Spratly Islands after Beijing used a military plane to evacuate sick workers from Fiery Cross Reef. Last week, it sent military singer Song Zuying to serenade hundreds of troops and construction workers there.

Washington is concerned China will use it to press its extensive territorial claims at the expense of weaker rivals. Chinese officials have repeatedly stressed the civilian nature of its activities in the area, including the construction of lighthouses, search-and-rescue bases and environment research stations.

Beijing has also rejected accusations that it is responsible for raising tensions in South China Sea, saying actions by the US and the encouragement it offers to other claimants such as Vietnam and the Philippines are increasing the chances of conflict. AGENCIES