B-52 Mistakenly Flew Close to Disputed Island Claimed By China

Thanh observed that South China Sea conflict is not only threatening maritime security, safety and freedom of navigation, but also decreasing the strategic trust among nations with serious and long-term impacts on peace, security, development and cooperation in the Indo-Asia Pacific region.

“This behavior is a serious military provocation which complicates the general situation in the South China Sea, [contributing] to the militarization of the region”, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

It demanded Washington immediately take measures to prevent such incidents and damage to relations.

The Chinese statement said the USA military’s actions to “make a show of force” had created tensions in the South China Sea, though the Americans are not the only military testing the waters. China says a US bomber got too close to one of the islands. At least one of the bombers on the mission flew within two miles of Cuarteron Reef, drawing warnings from Chinese military on the artificial island.

The complaint itself reveals a hazardous geopolitical fault-line between China and the US: China complained about the flight on the basis that US warplanes had violated the airspace of an artificial island that China constructed in order to secure its claim to a disputed area.

Late October, tensions between USA and China increased after a US warship sailed within 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers) – the extent of territorial waters – of the China claimed Spratly Islands.

Prospects of developing South China Sea petroleum resources slip further amid the recent flare up in the territorial spat triggered by China’s regional reclamation works. Madhav countered and said the Indian Ocean did not belong only to India, but was shared by other countries of the world and similar is the case with the South China Sea.

‘The Chinese have raised concerns with us about the flight path of a recent training mission. Apparently, the Japanese military also plans to boost the number of military personnel in the East China Sea by around 20% to around 10,000 over the next few years. The matter surfaced after Jakarta noted that Beijing had included parts of the islands within the “nine-dash line”, Reuters reported November 12, as Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Armanatha Nasir stressed “we do not recognize the nine-dash line because it is not in line with… global law”.

Beijing filed a formal diplomatic complaint and its Foreign Ministry said it would take “necessary measures, including the imposition of sanctions against companies participating in the arms sale to Taiwan”.