The Pentagon is considering sending U.S. military aircraft and ships to
assert freedom of navigation around rapidly growing Chinese-made artificial
islands in the disputed East Vietnam Sea, a U.S. official said on Tuesday.
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An aerial photo taken though a glass window of a Philippine military
plane shows the alleged on-going land reclamation by China on mischief reef in
the Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago in the East Vietnam Sea, May 11, 2015.
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U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter requested options that include sending
U.S. military ships and aircraft within 12 nautical miles (22 km) of reefs that
China has been building up in Vietnam's Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago, the
official said.
Such a move would directly challenge Chinese efforts to expand its
influence in the disputed region by literally adding territory through a
massive island-building exercise.
"We are considering how to demonstrate freedom of navigation in an
area that is critical to world trade," the U.S. official said, speaking on
condition of anonymity, adding that any options would need to be approved by
the White House.
Carter's request for the development of options including using the U.S.
ships and aircraft was first reported earlier on Tuesday by the Wall Street
Journal.
The Pentagon and White House did not immediately comment.
Chinese embassy spokesman Zhu Haiquan said China hoped "relevant
parties" - an apparent reference to the United States and others - would
honor commitments not to take sides in East Vietnam Sea disputes "and
refrain from playing up tensions."
The practice of sending ships and aircraft near the islands would be in
line with regular U.S. military "Freedom of Navigation" operations,
which it conducted last year to challenge maritime claims of 19 countries,
including China.
China drew condemnation from Japan and the United States in 2013 when it
imposed an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea, in
which aircraft are supposed to identify themselves to Chinese authorities.
B-52 flights
The United States responded by flying B-52 bombers through the zone in a
show of force.
China claims nearly 90 percent of the entire East Vietnam Sea, a vital
shipping route through which $5 trillion of trade passes every year.
In Washington on Tuesday, Philippines Foreign Secretary Albert del
Rosario said his country, a U.S. treaty ally, said urgent action was needed.
"We are taking the position that we must do something quickly less
the massive reclamation results in the de facto control by China [of the East
Vietnam Sea]," he said at the Center for Strategic and International
Studies think tank.
Reclamation involves adding to existing islands or creating new ones by
dredging earth and sand from the ocean floor.
He said he was in Washington "to see what more the U.S. and
Philippines partnership can undertake" to stop China "taking as much
of the [East Vietnam Sea] as possible."
Recent satellite images have shown that since about March 2014, China has
conducted reclamation work at seven sites in Truong Sa and is constructing a
military-sized air strip on one artificial island and possibly a second on
another.
Other images have suggested China is working to extend another airstrip
to military length in Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago further north.
Reuters reported
last week China had added about 2,000 acres of land in the East Vietnam Sea
since the start of 2014, according to one U.S. estimate.
In April, the U.S. military commander for Asia, Admiral Samuel Locklear,
said China could eventually deploy radar and missile systems on the outposts
that could be used to enforce an exclusion zone should it move to declare one.
Last month Reuters reported that Japan's military was
considering joining the United States in maritime air patrols in the East
Vietnam Sea in response to China's increasingly assertive pursuit of
territorial claims.
A U.S. military source said a decision to begin such flights could prompt
Tokyo to ask the Philippines for access to air bases, something that would
allow aircraft to patrol longer.
Source: tuoitrenews
