U.S. warship sails by isle built up by China
http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2016/may/11/u-s-warship-sails-by-isle-built-up-by-c/By Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
Posted: May 11, 2016 at 3:58 a.m.
The U.S. Navy sent its third warship in less than seven months into China-claimed waters of the South China Sea as tensions rise ahead of an international court's ruling on the territorial dispute.
INTERACTIVE: Claims to the South China Sea
The USS William P. Lawrence, a guided-missile destroyer, on Tuesday sailed within the 12-nautical-mile territorial zone around Fiery Cross Reef, a feature in the Spratly Islands where China has dumped hundreds of thousands of tons of sand and coral to create an island on which it has built an airstrip.
The transit was a "freedom-of-navigation" operation by the U.S. military to demonstrate the right to fly and sail through what it considers international waters and airspace. The vessel was not conducting military maneuvers and was allowed to sail near the reef under international maritime law, U.S. officials said.
"This operation demonstrates ... that the United States will fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows," said Cmdr. Bill Urban, a Pentagon spokesman. "That is [as] true in the South China Sea as in other places around the globe."
According to the Chinese foreign ministry, the U.S. destroyer entered the area without China's permission.
"The American naval vessel threatened China's sovereignty, security and interests and it harmed the safety of the people and facilities in the island, damaging regional stability," Lu Kang, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said in a regularly scheduled news conference. "As we have stressed over and over again, China firmly opposes such behavior and we will take necessary measures to safeguard China's sovereignty and territory."
Lu said Chinese naval vessels followed, monitored and warned the U.S. warship.
Two years ago, Fiery Cross was little more than a cluster of rocks jutting out of the water, but the Chinese have built it into a military facility, complete with a runway, helicopter landing areas and a port. The installation is one of more than a half-dozen Chinese-developed islands in the disputed Spratly Islands.
The reef is also claimed by the Philippines, which is contesting China's claim to more than 80 percent of the South China Sea based on a 1947 Chinese map known as the nine-dash line, along with reefs and atolls in the waters. An arbitration tribunal hearing the case under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is expected to make a ruling by mid-2016. China has refused to participate in the arbitration, arguing that the tribunal lacks jurisdiction and that such disputes should be settled bilaterally.
The U.S. operation was first reported by The Wall Street Journal and later confirmed by the Pentagon.
Military posturing in the waters has escalated in recent weeks. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter visited a U.S. aircraft carrier in the South China Sea on April 15, just after Gen. Fan Changlong -- China's most senior military official after President Xi Jinping -- toured Fiery Cross. China later denied the carrier that hosted Carter, the USS John C. Stennis, entry to Hong Kong for a port call.
The Chinese navy over the past week carried out combat drills in the South China Sea, led by the Hefei, one of the country's most advanced missile destroyers, according to official Xinhua News Agency. Five other vessels participated, along with three helicopters and dozens of "special warfare" soldiers.
U.S. freedom-of-navigation operations challenged excessive maritime claims of 13 countries, including China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the year that ended Sept. 30, according to a Department of Defense report.
Information for this article was contributed by David Tweed of Bloomberg News and by Simon Denyer and Thomas Gibbons-Neff of The Washington Post.
A Section on 05/11/2016
