China demands US take responsibility for sailing through South China Sea

United States double-ignores China's demand

A U.S. warship came within 12 nautical miles of one of China's artificial islands in the South China Sea, prompting the country to proclaim America made an illegal, dangerous and provocative act.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - USS Lassen passed the Subi reef in the Spratly archipelago, which China claims it monitored, followed and then warned. One U.S. defense official said their mission was completed "without incident" on Tuesday. 

U.S. officials said the American action was meant to maintain the principle of freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and that Washington does not accept China's claim to territorial waters around its artificial islands. Experts claim the USS Lassen's actions were also meant to show the United States' allies that it would not give in to Beijing attempting to bully other countries from what is essentially free waters.

The USS Lassen is a guided-missile destroyer and traveled in the company of Navy surveillance planes, the anonymous U.S. official said. 

Earlier this month China said it "will never allow any country to violate China's territorial waters and airspace in the Spratly Islands, in the name of protecting freedom of navigation and overflight."

They added, "We urge the related parties not ot take any provocative actions, and genuinely take a responsible stance on regional peace and stability."

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang released a statement saying, "The U.S. vessel entered Chinese waters "illegally and without the Chinese government's permission. The action by the U.S. warship has threatened China's sovereignty and security interests, endangered the safety of personnel and facilities on the islands and damaged regional peace and stability."

He then urged the U.S. to "correct its wrongdoing immediately" and to halt more "dangerous and provocative actions."

Only hours after Kang's statement, Zhang Yesui, China's vice foreign minister, contacted U.S. Ambassador Max Baucus to deliver a formal protest. Chinese foreign Minister Wang Yi asked that the United States not "act blindly or make trouble out of nothing."

During September's summit, President Barack Obama told Xi that the United States would operate, fly or sail anywhere international law allowed.

China is not the only country to own territory in the South China Sea. The Philippines, Vietnam, Bruneit, Taiwan and Malaysia all own overlapping claims and many of them occupy islands, reefs and rocks. When China began a land reclamation and construction on many of the islands in 2014, it began to aggravate the United States and most of the other countries that own territory.

Baijing's president Xi Jinping pledged not to militarize the islands, which the USS Lassen set out, in part, to check. 

According to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, part of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), satellite images show that China's dredging project has helped increase the size of the Subi Reef to be big enough to potentially host an airstrip. There are also what appear to be surveillance towers and several satellite antennas on Subi Reef.

A Chinese airstrip is under construction at Fiery Cross reef and experts believe another could be built at Mischief reef. Despite U.S. concerns, China claims their construction work is designed for civilian use and will not affect freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

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