The U.S. Navy plans to send a guided-missile destroyer within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands built by China in the South China Sea, in the start of a series of challenges to China's territorial claims in one of the world's busiest sea lanes.A U.S. defense official said the patrol by the USS Lassen would occur early on Tuesday local time near Subi and Mischief reefs in the Spratly archipelago, features that were formerly submerged at high tide before China began a massive dredging project to turn them into islands in 2014.
The patrols would mark the most serious U.S. challenge yet to the 12-nautical-mile territorial limit China claims around the islands and are certain to anger Beijing, which said last month it would "never allow any country" to violate its territorial waters and airspace in the Spratlys.
The ship would likely be accompanied by a U.S. Navy P-8A surveillance plane and possibly P-3 surveillance plane, which have been conducting regular surveillance missions in the region, according to the defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Additional patrols would follow in coming weeks and could also be conducted around features that Vietnam and the Philippines have built up in the Spratlys, the official said. “This is something that will be a regular occurrence, not a one-off event,” said the official. “It’s not something that’s unique to China.”
"There are billions of dollars of commerce that float through that region of the world," Earnest told a news briefing. "Ensuring that free flow of commerce ... is critical to the global economy," he said.
The patrols would be the first within 12 miles of the features since China began building the reefs up in 2014. The United States last went within 12 miles of Chinese-claimed territory in the Spratlys in 2012.
The decision to go ahead with the patrols follows months of deliberation and risks of significantly upsetting already strained ties with China, the world's second-biggest economy, with which U.S. business and economic interests are deeply intertwined.
U.S. Congressman Randy Forbes, chairman of the House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee and Co-Chairman of the Congressional China Caucus, praised the plan.
“The passage of U.S. vessels within 12 nautical miles of China’s man-made features in the South China Sea is a necessary and overdue response to China’s destabilizing behavior in the region," Forbes said.
China claims most of the South China Sea China, one of the world's busiest sea lanes, through which more than $5 trillion of world trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, and Taiwan have rival claims.
| Maybe we should build an island or two in the South China Sea... |