United States defence chief heads for carrier in South China Sea

The warship is “conducting routine operations while transiting the South China Sea”, Carter said on Wednesday after a meeting of defence ministers from Southeast Asia in Malaysia, a forum marred by U.S.-China disagreements over the busy sea lane. China has laid territorial claim to the islets and asserted the they should be subject to the an worldwide law that allows states to claim a 12 nautical mile perimeter into the seas off their coasts.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter of the United States had a forty-minute meeting with the defense minister of China, Chang Wanquan, recently.

“I had no expectation there would be agreement”, Carter told a news conference, adding that the important point was that the South China Sea was a “persistent topic” of the conference.

China claims sovereignty on nearly all of the South China Sea which is firmly opposed by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

Harris is the head of the U.S. Pacific Command and his public declaration in the Chinese capital is a mark of US resolve over the waterway, where Beijing has built up rocks and reefs into artificial islands with facilities for military use.

Beijing accuses Washington of meddling in the regional disputes and deliberately stirring up tensions in the region.

At press time, Nakatani had said that he plans to raise the issue of freedom of navigation and worldwide law with Chang and discuss ways to prevent further clashes in the East China Sea over the Senkaku, or Diaoyu Islands. The statement was scuttled by China’s opposition to language on the territorial disputes in the waters that have come to dominate Asean meetings, The Wall Street Journal reported.

According to Chang, “more than 100,000 vessels sail through the South China Sea every year, and there is no such thing as a country encountering obstacles, troubles or danger”.

United States and Chinese officials have sparred over the recent passage of the USS Lassen guided missile destroyer near at least one of the land formations China claims in the disputed Spratly Islands.

The 18 ministers, who gathered in Subang on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, had been expected to adopt the “Kuala Lumpur Joint Declaration” but eventually an ASEAN chairman’s statement was issued instead.

Han also met the defense minister of Indonesia to request continued interest in South Korea’s indigenous fighter jet development project, dubbed the KF-X.

USA activities in the South China Sea reflect a “ubiquitous narrative” in Washington that portrays Beijing as challenger of the global order, although, in reality, it seems as if the United States does not understand its own objectives.