US B-52 bomber buzzes Chinese-built islalnds

“We conduct B-52 flights in worldwide air space in that part of the world all the time”, Peter Cook said.

Commander Bill Urban, a Pentagon spokesman said the bombers pursued their mission even after being contacted by Chinese ground controllers.

The United States sent the USS Lassen within 12 nautical miles of China’s artificially constructed Subi Reef in the Spratly Islands, along with an accompaniment of two surveillance aircraft.

But Mr Hong said the South China Sea should not be a subject for discussion at the meetings.

The Lassen’s deployment did not include USA aircraft flying within the 12-mile boundary, and experts believe the operation fell somewhat short of a true freedom of navigation exercise.

The latest USA patrol, which occurred overnight on November 8-9, continued despite warnings from Chinese ground controllers, officials reportedly said.

The US flights came after China recently placed advanced J-11 fighter aircraft on Woody Island, which is one of five artificially constructed landmasses in the area. Parts of the archipelago are also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. Senate Armed Service Committee Chairman John McCain called for more information about the FON patrol in an open letter to Secretary Carter.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Friday that China opposed flights that used such freedoms as mere legal cover, strongly implying that Beijing considered the flights by the B-52 bombers on Sunday and Monday as an excuse to challenge China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea.

China responded on Thursday to a warning from Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Panjaitan that Indonesia might follow the Philippines’ step of taking China to an global tribunal if China and Indonesia could not reach an amicable solution to their dispute over the Natuna Islands. Chinese President Xi Jinping will also attend the APEC talks.

“This, though, is not a US agreement or USA code, it’s one that would need to be implemented by the parties involved”.

China earlier this year mounted a diplomatic campaign contending that the construction blitz, while partly for military purposes, was mainly to improve the living and working conditions of personnel stationed there, as well as better performing its “international responsibilities” by building civilian facilities that neighbors could use.

Beijing’s most-used claim to “indisputable sovereignty” over the South China Sea comes from what it deems as historical right.

The arbitration case against China in the Hague “is a knot that has impeded the improvement and development of Sino-Philippine relations”, a statement on the Foreign Ministry’s website cited Wang as saying in Manila. The nine-dash line is a problem we are facing, but not only us.