The Chinese and US navies yesterday were set to hold high-level talks over tension in the South China Sea after a US warship challenged China’s territorial assertions in the disputed waters this week.
US chief of naval operations Admiral John Richardson and his Chinese counterpart, Admiral Wu Shengli (吳勝利), were to hold an hour-long video teleconference yesterday, a US official said.
A spokesman for China’s Ministry of National Defense said that Wu would present China’s “solemn position on the US vessel’s entry without permission” into waters in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), which Taiwan also claims.
Photo: EPA
Both officers initiated the meeting to discuss recent operations in the South China Sea and naval ties, the US official said. It will be the third video teleconference between the countries’ naval chiefs.
Beijing rebuked Washington for sending a guided-missile destroyer within 12 nautical miles (22.2km) of one of China’s artificial islands in the Spratlys on Tuesday, saying it had tracked and warned the USS Lassen and called in the US ambassador to protest.
“We would urge the US side not to continue down the wrong path,” ministry spokesman Yang Yujun (楊宇軍) told a regular briefing. “But if they do, we will take all necessary measures in accordance with the need.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) will next week visit Vietnam, another vocal claimant in the South China Sea, and Singapore, while Chinese Minister of National Defense Chang Wanquan (常萬全) is to attend a meeting of Southeast Asian defense chiefs in Malaysia.
The patrol was the most significant US challenge yet to territorial limits China claims around its artificial islands in one of the world’s busiest sea lanes.
Separately, the English-language China Daily reported that Admiral Harry Harris, commander of US forces in the Pacific, is to visit Beijing next week. It cited an unnamed source and gave no further details.
Yang said the plan was for Harris to visit before the end of the year, and that both sides remained “in communication” about it.
A US embassy spokesman declined to comment.
Harris has been highly critical of China’s island building in the Spratlys. This year he said China was using dredges and bulldozers to create a “great wall of sand” in the South China Sea.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is on a two-day visit to Beijing, yesterday expressed concern over the territorial dispute and suggested China go to international courts to resolve the row.
“The territorial dispute in the South China Sea is a serious conflict. I am always a bit surprised why in this case multinational courts should not be an option for a solution,” Merkel said in a speech in Beijing.
“Nevertheless, we wish that the sea trade routes stay free and safe, because they are important for all,” she said.
Despite criticism of China’s action in the South China Sea, foreign navies from the US to Europe have sought to build ties with their Chinese counterparts.
A French frigate docked at China’s main South China Sea base in Guangdong Province on Wednesday on a four-day visit. It will participate in a maritime exercise about accidental encounters at sea.
Two Australian warships will also hold exercises with the Chinese navy in the South China Sea next week, Australian Minister of Defence Marise Payne said yesterday.
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