China said on Friday it would not stand for violations of its territorial waters in the name of freedom of navigation, as the United States considers sailing warships close to China's artificial islands in the South China Sea.
A U.S. defense official told Reuters on Thursday the
United States was considering sending ships to waters inside the
12-nautical-mile zones that China claims as territory around islands it has
built in the Spratly chain.
Western media reports quoted U.S. officials as saying the
action could take place within a matter of days, but awaited a decision by U.S.
President Barack Obama.
The commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, Admiral
Harry Harris, declined to say on Friday whether the United States would carry
out the plan. But he made clear it was an option he had presented to Obama and
said the United States must carry out freedom of navigation patrols throughout
the Asia-Pacific.
"I simply won't discuss future operations,"
Harris told a Washington seminar. "With regards to whether we are going to
sail within 12 miles, or fly within 12 miles, of any of the reclaimed islands
that China has built in the South China Sea, I will reserve that for
later."
Earlier on Friday, China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman
Hua Chunying warned against any such patrols.
"We 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," she told a regular news
briefing.
"We urge the related parties not to take any
provocative actions, and genuinely take a responsible stance on regional peace
and stability," she added.
China claims most of the South China Sea, where The
Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have overlapping claims.
Washington has signaled it does not recognize Beijing's
sovereignty over the several islands China has built on reefs in the Spratly
archipelago and says the U.S. navy will continue to operate wherever
international law allows.
The issue is central to increasingly tense relations
between the United States and China, the world's two largest economies.
David Shear, the U.S. assistant secretary of defense,
told the Senate Armed Services Committee last month there had been no U.S. patrols
within 12 miles of the Chinese-claimed islands since 2012.
In May, the Chinese navy issued eight warnings to the
crew of a U.S. P8-A Poseidon surveillance aircraft that flew near the islands,
according to CNN, which was aboard the U.S. aircraft.
During a visit the Washington by Chinese President Xi
Jinping last month, the two sides finalized an agreement aimed at reducing the
possibility of aerial clashes.
On the eve of Xi's visit, the Pentagon said a Chinese
aircraft performed an unsafe maneuver during an air intercept of a U.S. spy
plane on Sept. 15 over the Yellow Sea.
Harris told the seminar he believed the incident was the
result of "poor airmanship" rather than a directive from headquarters
in China.
**More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/09/us-china-usa-southchinasea-idUSKCN0S30ND20151009
*Reporting by Adam Rose in Beijing and David Brunnstrom
in Washington; Writing by Michael Martina and David Brunnstrom; Editing by
Clarence Fernandez