Jets scrambled as US ship nears reef
Print Edition
CHINA scrambled fighter jets yesterday as a US navy ship sailed close to a reef in the South China Sea, a patrol China denounced as an illegal threat to peace which showed that its defense installations in the area were necessary.
Guided missile destroyer the USS William P. Lawrence traveled within 12 nautical miles of the Yongshu Jiao reef, US Defense Department spokesman Bill Urban said.
China’s defense ministry said two fighter jets were scrambled and three warships shadowed the US ship, telling it to leave.
The US patrol “again proves that China’s construction of defensive facilities on the relevant reefs in the Nansha Islands is completely reasonable and totally necessary,” it said.
Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the US ship had illegally entered Chinese waters.
“This action by the US side threatened China’s sovereignty and security interests, endangered the staff and facilities on the reef, and damaged regional peace and stability,” he told a daily news briefing.
“China strongly opposes such action by the US and will continue to take measures to safeguard our sovereignty and security,” Lu said, adding that China and other coastal states in the South China Sea had been working together to keep navigation and overflight free in the area for a long time. Freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea has never been a problem, Lu said.
Lu said the United States introduced freedom of navigation operations in 1979 before the signing of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, a treaty to which the US is still not a party.
The purpose of these recurring “patrols” is to disrupt the order of the seas and oceans without adhering to the UN convention, he said.
The US sends military vessels and aircraft on surveillance missions against China as simple acts of provocation, said Lu, adding that the US actually considers itself above the UNCLOS and that these activities are opposed by many countries.
Lu said that the flexing of US military muscle in the name of freedom of navigation is the biggest threat to peace and stability in the area.
The Pentagon last month called on China to reaffirm it has no plans to deploy military aircraft in the Nansha Islands after China used a military plane to evacuate sick workers from Yongshu Jiao.
China has reacted with anger to previous US so-called freedom of navigation operations, including the overflight of fighter planes near the Huangyan Islands last month, and when long-range US bombers flew near Chinese facilities under construction on Huayang reef in the Nansha Islands last November.
Last week, a Chinese diplomat warned that international criticism of China over the South China Sea would rebound like a coiled spring.
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