The Pentagon is considering sending US military aircraft and ships to assert freedom of navigation around rapidly growing Chinese-made artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea, a US official said on Tuesday.
US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter requested options that include sending aircraft and ships within 12 nautical miles (22km) of reefs that China has been building up in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), which Taiwan also claims, the official said.
Such a move would directly challenge Chinese efforts to expand its influence in the maritime heart of Southeast Asia.
“We are considering how to demonstrate freedom of navigation in an area that is critical to world trade,” the US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, adding that any options would need White House approval.
Carter’s request was first reported earlier on Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal, which said one option was to fly US Navy surveillance aircraft over the islands.
It quoted US officials as saying there is now growing momentum within the Pentagon and the White House for taking concrete steps to send Beijing a signal that the recent buildup in the Spratlys has gone too far and needs to stop.
The Pentagon and White House did not immediately comment, but the South China Sea is likely to be a topic of discussion when US Secretary of State John Kerry visits China this weekend.
Part of Kerry’s trip is to focus on preparations for the annual US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue to be held in Washington late next month.
Chinese embassy spokesman Zhu Haiquan (朱海權) said China had “indisputable sovereignty” over the Spratlys, adding that China’s construction there was “reasonable, justified and lawful.”
Beijing claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, through which US$5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei also have overlapping claims.
News of the possibly tougher US stance came as a key pillar of US President Barack Obama’s pivot to Asia in the face of China’s rising power suffered a major blow at the hands of Democrats in the US Senate, who blocked debate on a bill that would have smoothed the path for a 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership.
The practice of sending ships and aircraft near the artificial islands would be in line with regular US military freedom of navigation operations, which it conducted last year to challenge maritime claims of 19 nations, including China.
China drew condemnation from Japan and the US in 2013 when it imposed an air defense identification zone in the East China Sea, in which aircraft are supposed to identify themselves to Chinese authorities.
The US responded by flying B-52 bombers through the zone.
Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at the Australian National University, said if the key policy response being considered to Beijing’s reclamation in the Spratlys involved a show of force, it suggested that Washington and its allies did not have many good options.
“The risk of this is that China may use such deployments as a reason to try to challenge or confront US forces,” he said.
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