| New York Times | - |
BEIJING
- China summoned the American ambassador to protest the U.S. Navy's
sailing of a warship close to one of China's artificial islands in the
South China Sea, in an act that challenged Chinese sovereignty claims.
BEIJING
— China summoned the American ambassador to protest the U.S. Navy's
sailing of a warship close to one of China's artificial islands in the
South China Sea, in an act that challenged Chinese sovereignty claims.
China's
Foreign Ministry said on its website Wednesday that Executive Vice
Minister Zhang Yesui told Max Baucus that the U.S. had acted in defiance
of repeated Chinese objections and had threatened China's sovereignty
and security. While offering no details, Zhang said Tuesday's
"provocative" maneuver also placed personnel and infrastructure on the
island in jeopardy.
China
was "extremely dissatisfied and a resolutely opposed" the U.S. actions,
the ministry said. The U.S. State Department declined to confirm the
Tuesday meeting, or comment on any remarks made on the issue.
China
says authorities monitored and warned the destroyer USS Lassen as it
entered what China claims as a 12-mile (21-kilometer) territorial limit
around Subi Reef in the Spratly Islands archipelago, a group of reefs,
islets, and atolls where the Philippines has competing claims.
The
sail-past fits a U.S. policy of pushing back against China's growing
assertiveness in the South China Sea. U.S. ally the Philippines welcomed
the move as a way of helping maintain "a balance of power."
Since
2013, China has accelerated the creation of new outposts by piling sand
atop reefs and atolls then adding buildings, ports and airstrips big
enough to handle bombers and fighter jets — activities seen as
attempting to change the territorial status by altering the geography.
Navy
officials had said the sail-past was necessary to assert the U.S.
position that China's man-made islands cannot be considered sovereign
territory with the right to surrounding territorial waters.
International
law permits military vessels the right of "innocent passage" in
transiting other country's seas without notification, although China's
Foreign Ministry labeled the ship's actions as illegal.
The
U.S. says it doesn't take a position on sovereignty over the South
China Sea but insists on freedom of navigation and overflight. About 30
percent of global trade passes through the South China Sea, which also
has rich fishing grounds and a potential wealth of undersea mineral
deposits.
China
says it respects the right of navigation but has never specified the
exact legal status of its maritime claims. China says virtually all of
the South China Sea belongs to it, while Brunei, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam claim either parts or all of it.
State
Department spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday the U.S. has a right to
freedom of navigation in international waters, and such maneuvers
"should not be construed as a threat by anybody." He said the U.S. wants
relations with China to continue to deepen.
"The
U.S.-China relationship is vitally important and one that we want to
see continue to improve and to grow for the benefit of both our
countries, not to mention the region," Kirby told reporters in
Washington.
Beijing's
response closely mirrored its actions in May when a navy dispatcher
warned off a U.S. Navy P8-A Poseidon surveillance aircraft as it flew
over Fiery Cross Reef, where China has conducted extensive reclamation
work.
A
Defense Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to
discuss the Lassen's movements, said the patrol was completed without
incident. A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Bill Urban, declined to
comment.
Speaking
to foreign correspondents in Manila, Philippine President Benigno
Aquino III said he supported the U.S. naval maneuvers as an assertion of
freedom of navigation and as a means to balance power in the region.
"I
think expressing support for established norms of international
behavior should not be a negative for a country," he said. "I think
everybody would welcome a balance of power anywhere in the world."
Without
identifying China by name, he said "one regional power" has been making
"controversial pronouncements" that must not be left unchallenged.
The Obama administration has long said it will exercise a right to freedom of navigation in any international waters.
"Make
no mistake, the United States will fly, sail and operate wherever
international law allows, as we do around the world, and the South China
Sea is not and will not be an exception," Defense Secretary Ash Carter
said earlier this month.
The
Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said China adhered to international
law regarding freedom of navigation and flight, but "resolutely opposes
the damaging of China's sovereignty and security interests in the name
of free navigation and flight."
"China
will firmly deal with provocations from other countries," the statement
said, adding that China would continue to monitor the air and sea and
take further action when necessary.
Chinese
Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said such actions by the U.S. might
end up spurring further advances in Chinas defense capabilities.
"If
any country wishes to disrupt or impede China's reasonable, justifiable
and lawful activities on our own territories by playing some little
tricks, I would advise these countries to cast off this fantasy," Lu
said.
The
South China Sea has become an increasingly sore point in relations with
the United States, even as President Barack Obama and China's President
Xi Jinping have sought to deepen cooperation in other areas.
Despite
those tensions, exchanges between the two militaries have continued to
expand, with a U.S. Navy delegation paying visits last week to China's
sole aircraft carrier and a submarine warfare academy.
___
Burns
reported from Washington, D.C. Associated Press reporters Oliver Teves
in Manila, Philippines, and Matthew Pennington in Washington, D.C.,
contributed to this report.
___
This story has been corrected to show that the U.S. ambassador's name is spelled Baucus instead of Bacaus.
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