The US should cease sending ships and planes to South China Sea islands, stop showing off its military might and respect China’s core interests, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) told US Secretary of State John Kerry.
“The world is facing multifaceted challenges and needs multi-party cooperation to handle that,” Wang said on Sunday in a telephone conversation with Kerry, according to a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement. “While the US is seeking Chinese cooperation, it also should respect China’s core interests and major concerns.”
Wang’s comments follow a report in the Wall Street Journal that a US B-52 bomber mistakenly flew within two nautical miles (3.7km) of Cuarteron Reef (Huayang Reef, 華陽礁) in the disputed Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) in the South China Sea. China dumped tonnes of dredged sand onto the reef, turning it into an artificial island last year, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, a Web site devoted to tracking maritime security issues in Asia.
The US and China have been at loggerheads since October when the US sailed a warship within 12 nautical miles of an island China built on a previously semi-submerged reef. China’s claim to more than 80 percent of the waters is contested by Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.
A Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement urged the US “to reflect upon and correct its mistake, take effective measures to prevent similar dangerous and provocative actions from happening and stop doing anything that hurts China’s sovereignty and security interests.”
Bad weather had contributed to the pilot of the B-52 flying off course and into the area claimed by China, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Pentagon spokesman Bill Urban. The Pentagon is investigating why one of two B-52s on a routine patrol unintentionally flew into the airspace, he said.
The Chinese Ministry of National Defense on Saturday said that both B-52s had flown into Chinese airspace on Dec. 10, in a “serious military provocation” that prompted troops on the island to go on high alert and warn the planes to leave.
Wang also requested that the US stop selling arms to Taiwan, which China regards as a province. The US last week said it would sell US$1.83 billion in arms to Taiwan, its first such sale in four years.
The Wang-Kerry conversation followed a unanimous adoption on Saturday by the UN Security Council of a resolution endorsing a political transition to end Syria’s civil war. Wang said China hopes this would be a good opportunity to press ahead with a political solution to the Syrian issue.
The US Department of State has no yet published an account of the conversation.
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