China Warns U.S. Navy: Out of Our Sea

Another USA official said there had been “routine” communication between the U.S. and Chinese ships.

It added the military would take all necessary steps to protect the country’s security.

In Canberra, Defence Minister Marise Payne said that while Australia was not involved in the current USA exercise in the South China Sea, it was “important to recognise that all states have a right under worldwide law to freedom of navigation and freedom of overflight, including in the South China Sea”.

Lowly Institute defence expert Euan Graham said Australia would soon be faced with pressure to join the USA in its maritime patrols in the South China Sea. But under questioning from legislators, he confirmed that the USS Lassen had passed within 12 miles of a Chinese artificial island.

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.

The manoeuvre comes after months of deliberation in Washington and is created to uphold the principles of freedom of navigation in worldwide waters, while underlining that the U.S. rejects China’s territorial claims around the reclaimed islands.

About 60% of Australia’s exports pass through the South China Sea. “This type of operation shouldn’t be seen as provocative”.

Additional patrols could follow in the coming weeks, the official added.

China began a large-scale dredging project in 2014 to turn the formerly submerged Subi and Mischief Reefs into islands.

Earlier in the day, the USS Lassen destroyer entered waters in the South China Sea near disputed territory.

US Congressman Randy Forbes, chairman of the House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee and Co-Chairman of the Congressional China Caucus, praised the plan.

Under the latter, territorial waters are defined as an area extending at most 12 nautical miles from the low-water mark of a coastal state and are regarded as the sovereign territory of that state. “If you couldn’t do innocent passage, it would make transiting by sea really cost-prohibitive and hard”, the official said.

The United States had not conducted a patrol within 12 miles of the seven Chinese outposts since Beijing began building the reefs up at the end of 2013.

In addition Australia expressed strong support for the USA action. “The global community raised eyebrows and the Chinese people are outraged”, the commentary said.

China challenged the USS Lassen by radio, and it was followed by a Chinese vessel, but the Chinese avoided making a physical challenge. China’s navy could for example try to block or attempt to surround United States vessels, risking an escalation. It has a few of world’s busiest shipping lanes.

“I would expect it would be diplomatically shrill in its reaction”.

Unlike in Europe, water is the organizing element of the continent, which wraps around the East and South China Seas, the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean, as well as countless peripheral lagoons and bays.