- China accused the US of deliberately provoking tensions by sending a Navy destroyer into waters claimed by China in the South China Sea. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said China would firmly react to this provocation.
- The US sent the destroyer within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef, one of several artificial islands China has built in the Spratly Islands chain, as part of a freedom of navigation operation. China claims a 12-nautical mile zone around these islands.
- Tensions grew as the Chinese and US governments disagreed over sovereignty claims and rights to operate military vessels in exclusive economic zones in the South China Sea.
- China accused the US of deliberately provoking tensions by sending a Navy destroyer into waters claimed by China in the South China Sea. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said China would firmly react to this provocation.
- The US sent the destroyer within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef, one of several artificial islands China has built in the Spratly Islands chain, as part of a freedom of navigation operation. China claims a 12-nautical mile zone around these islands.
- Tensions grew as the Chinese and US governments disagreed over sovereignty claims and rights to operate military vessels in exclusive economic zones in the South China Sea.
- China accused the US of deliberately provoking tensions by sending a Navy destroyer into waters claimed by China in the South China Sea. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said China would firmly react to this provocation.
- The US sent the destroyer within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef, one of several artificial islands China has built in the Spratly Islands chain, as part of a freedom of navigation operation. China claims a 12-nautical mile zone around these islands.
- Tensions grew as the Chinese and US governments disagreed over sovereignty claims and rights to operate military vessels in exclusive economic zones in the South China Sea.
- China accused the US of deliberately provoking tensions by sending a Navy destroyer into waters claimed by China in the South China Sea. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said China would firmly react to this provocation.
- The US sent the destroyer within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef, one of several artificial islands China has built in the Spratly Islands chain, as part of a freedom of navigation operation. China claims a 12-nautical mile zone around these islands.
- Tensions grew as the Chinese and US governments disagreed over sovereignty claims and rights to operate military vessels in exclusive economic zones in the South China Sea.
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BEIJING Tensions over the South China Sea grew on Tuesday after Beijing accused
the United States of committing a deliberate provocation by sending a Navy
destroyer into waters claimed by China. China will firmly react to this deliberate provocation, Lu Kang, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a regularly scheduled news conference. China will not condone any action that undermines Chinas security. The American ambassador, Max Baucus, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday evening and told that the United States should stop threatening Chinese sovereignty and security interests, the national broadcaster CCTV said. The Defense Ministry said Tuesday night that two Chinese vessels a missile destroyer, the Lanzhou, and a patrol boat, the Taizhou had warned the American warship to leave the disputed waters. The Pentagon has said that the destroyer, accompanied by surveillance aircraft, completed its mission without incident. Continue reading the main story RELATED COVERAGE
Challenging Chinese Claims, U.S. Sends Warship Near Artificial Island ChainOCT. 26, 2015
U.S. Tells Asian Allies That Navy Will Patrol Near Islands in South China SeaOCT. 12, 2015
Conflict Flavors Obamas Meeting With Chinese LeaderSEPT. 22, 2015
China Building Airstrip on 3rd Artificial Island, Images ShowSEPT. 15, 2015
Despite the strong language and a vow that such actions could force China to speed up its building program in the South China Sea Beijings response repeated standard language about its rights and sovereignty over the South China Sea. Continue reading the main story DANGEROUS GROUND
Since the 18th century, navigators have referred to the Spratlys as
dangerous ground."
The Philippines, China, Taiwan and Vietnam have all laid claim to the Spratlys.
China and Taiwan base their claims on Xia and Han dynasty records and a 1947 map made by the Kuomintang.
The seabed beneath the Spratlys may hold up to 5.4 billion barrels of oil and 55.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Read more of our coverage from The New York Times Magazine.
The Chinese statements came after the Lassen, a guided missile destroyer, sailed late Monday within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef, one of several artificial islands that China has built in the disputed Spratly Islands chain. The United States had signaled for weeks that it would undertake the mission, which it called an exercise of the right to freedom of navigation in international waters. The Spratly archipelago is closer to thePhilippines, an American ally, than to China.Satellite images show that China has built Subi Reef into an island, using huge dredging, and that it has started constructing a runway capable of accommodating military aircraft. It has completed another such runway in the Spratlys, on Fiery Cross Reef, and is working on a third.
The artificial islands built by China, and the broader issue of its claims over islands and small reefs in nearly 90 percent of the strategically importantSouth China Sea, are among the most contentious issues between Washington and Beijing. The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam also dispute Chinas claims to the Spratly Islands. The naval maneuver came a month after Chinas president, Xi Jinping, and President Obama met in Washington and failed to reach an agreement on Chinas claims. Continue reading the main story
TAIWAN CHINA Hong Kong Pacific Ocean Gulf of Tonkin South China Sea PHILIPPINES Paracel Islands The Nine Dashes Chinas historical territorial claim LAOS Manila CAMBODIA Claimed by the Philippines VIETNAM Fiery Cross Reef Spratly Islands MALAYSIA BRUNEI 200 Miles INDONESIA
By The New York Times
Mr. Xi said at a news conference during his Washington visit that China had no intention of militarizing islands in the South China Sea, but he did not expand on that pledge during his private talks with Mr. Obama, administration officials said. Officials had said before the Lassens mission that one purpose of such a patrol would be to test Mr. Xis words. The Lassen operation was intended to show that the United States does not agree that China can prevent American ships from entering a 12-nautical-mile zone that Beijing is claiming around the artificial islands. The Pentagon apparently chose Subi Reef, which is known as a low-tide elevation, with great care, said Andrew S. Erickson, associate professor at the China Maritime Studies Institute at the United States Naval War College in Rhode Island. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a low-tide elevation one naturally submerged at high tide is not entitled to a 12-nautical-mile territorial limit, Mr. Erickson said. Beyond a 500-meter safety zone, foreign ships and aircraft are free to operate without consultation or permission, he said. At the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, Mr. Lu, the spokesman, said that China had sovereignty over the Spratly chain, and hence claimed a 12-nautical-mile zone around the enlarged islands. Continue reading the main story
Interactive Feature: What China Has Been Building in the South China Sea
China has indisputable sovereignty of the Nansha Islands and adjacent waters, Mr. Lu said, using Chinas name for the Spratlys. He said that China was building in the South China Sea for the public good. Referring to the United States, Mr. Lu said, If the relevant party keeps stirring things up, it will be necessary for China to speed up its construction activities. Continue reading the main story RECENT COMMENTS
SBK 16 minutes ago If the international community allows these man-made structures on top of the submerged reefs as China's "sovereign territories", therefore... George 41 minutes ago "Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a low-tide elevation one naturally submerged at high tide is not entitled to... MauiYankee 42 minutes ago Glad the CinC finally thought it appropriate to challenge the ridiculous claims of sovereignty in the South China Sea.I fervently hope that...
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The United States also disagrees with China over the interpretation of what is known as a 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone that countries can claim from their coastline. China says that a country must obtain permission before its military ships can pass through such zones. The United States interprets the Convention on the Law of the Sea differently, arguing that no permission is needed. There are some fears that as China acts on its claims to many islands, reefs and banks in the South China Sea it will build a wide swath of overlapping exclusive economic zones in an attempt to effectively dominate the South China Sea and, in the long run, keep the United States out. In a defense white paper in May, China said that after decades of emphasizing its land-based military, it was determined to become a maritime power that could operate in the distant seas as well as nearby waters. Continue reading the main story Todays Headlines: Asia Edition Get news and analysis from Asia and around the world delivered to your inbox every day in the Asian morning.
That statement was taken as a signal in Washington that China would most likely start trying to enforce its sovereignty over the islands and other land formations within a so-called nine-dash line in the South China Sea. China often claims that the line, encompassing nearly 90 percent of the South China Sea, is based on historical precedent, and at other times says its rights are based on legal claims. The United States has not ratified the Convention on the Law of the Sea, but abides by its provisions. The Lassens patrol came a week before the head of the United States Pacific Command, Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., is scheduled to hold talks in Beijing with senior Chinese military officials. Admiral Harris, who has criticized China for moving walls of sand to create the artificial islands, has been an outspoken proponent of freedom-of-navigation patrols and has warned that the United States will conduct such forays whenever it sees fit. CONTINUE READING THE MAIN STORY381COMMENTS Earlier this month, one of Admiral Harriss predecessors, Adm. Dennis C. Blair, warned a conference of Chinese analysts that Chinas massive land-building projects in the South China Sea and its claims of sovereignty were inviting a strong response from the United States Navy. This is simply unacceptable to the United States, and the United States will take strong military action, which will tend to move the issues from the civilian law enforcement to the military realm, he said at a meeting of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, an influential research institute allied with Chinas intelligence services. There is a general feeling outside of China that it has now settled on a sustained policy of aggressive actions to support its claims, especially in the South China Sea, Admiral Blair said, and that China has abandoned any ideas of compromise and negotiated solutions to the disputes.
