US warships sail near disputed islands in South China Sea in a move likely to anger Beijing
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Two US Navy warships have sailed near South China Sea islands claimed by China, two US officials say, in a move likely to anger Beijing as President Donald Trump seeks its continued cooperation on North Korea.
Key points:
- The Freedom of Navigation Operations had been planned months in advance
- The operations came just days after the Pentagon uninvited China from a major US-hosted naval drill
- Critics say the move was largely symbolic and would have little impact on Chinese behaviour
The operation was the latest attempt to counter what Washington sees as Beijing's efforts to limit freedom of navigation in the strategic waters.
While this operation had been planned months in advance, and similar operations have become routine, it comes at a particularly sensitive time and just days after the Pentagon uninvited China from a major US-hosted naval drill.
The US officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the Higgins guided-missile destroyer and the Antietam, a guided-missile cruiser, came within 12 nautical miles of the Paracel Islands, among a string of islets, reefs and shoals over which China has territorial disputes with its neighbours.
The US military vessels carried out manoeuvring operations near Tree, Lincoln, Triton and Woody islands in the Paracels, one of the officials said.
Mr Trump's cancellation of a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has put further strain on US-China ties amid a trade dispute between the world's two largest economies.
Critics of the operations, known as "freedom of navigations", have said they had little impact on Chinese behaviour and were largely symbolic.
The US military has a long-standing position that its operations are carried out throughout the world, including in areas claimed by allies, and that they are separate from political considerations.
Satellite photographs taken on May 12 showed China appeared to have deployed truck-mounted surface-to-air missiles or anti-ship cruise missiles at Woody Island.
Earlier this month, China's air force landed bombers on disputed islands and reefs in the South China Sea as part of a training exercise in the region, triggering concern from Vietnam and the Philippines.
The US military did not directly comment on Sunday's operation, but said US forces operated in the region on a daily basis.
"We conduct routine and regular Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs), as we have done in the past and will continue to do in the future," US Pacific Fleet said in a statement.
Neither China's foreign nor defence ministries immediately responded to a request for comment.
Pentagon officials have long complained China has not been candid enough about its rapid military build-up, and about its use of the South China Sea islands to gather intelligence in the region.
Earlier this month, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop warned Beijing against militarising the South China Sea following reports China had installed missile systems in the Spratly Islands for the first time.
On the weekend, Ms Bishop visited Vietnam, one of the countries which have long laid claim to the Spratly Islands, to open the Cao Lanh Bridge with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, and co-chair the inaugural Australia-Vietnam Foreign Ministers' Meeting.
Australia contributed $160 million towards the project, which was announced by former prime minister Julia Gillard in 2010.
Ms Bishop was planning to discuss with Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Pham Binh Minh, how Australia and Vietnam could expand collaboration, "particularly on important regional issues relating to stability, security and prosperity", according to a media release.
In March, a US Navy destroyer carried out a "freedom of navigation" operation close to Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands.
Chinese officials have accused Washington of viewing their country in suspicious, "Cold War" terms.
China's claims in the South China Sea, through which about $US5 trillion in shipborne trade passes each year, are contested by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
The United States has said it would like to see more international participation in freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea.
Reuters/ABC
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Vietnam, China, Malaysia have eyes on the prize
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Rich in resources and traversed by a quarter of global shipping, the South China Sea is the stage for several territorial disputes that threaten to escalate tensions in the region.
At the heart of these disputes are a series of barren islands in two groups - the Spratly Islands, off the coast of the Philippines, and the Paracel Islands, off the coasts of Vietnam and China.
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Both chains are essentially uninhabitable, but are claimed by no fewer than seven countries, eager to gain control of the vast oil and gas fields below them, as well as some of the region's best fishing grounds.
Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei have made claims to part of the Spratlys based on the internationally recognised Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which extends 200 nautical miles from a country's coastline.
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Based on the EEZ, the Philippines has the strongest claim on the Spratlys and their resources, with its EEZ covering much of the area.
However the lure of resources, and prospect of exerting greater control over shipping in the region, means that greater powers are contesting the Philippines' claims.
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China has made extensive sovereignty claims on both the Spratlys and the Paracels to the north, based largely on historic claims outlined in a map from the middle part of the 20th Century known as the 'Nine Dash Map'.
Taiwan also makes claims based on the same map, as it was created by the nationalist Kuomintang government, which fled to Taiwan after the communists seized power in China.
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Vietnam also claims the Spratlys and the Paracels as sovereign territory, extending Vietnam's EEZ across much of the region and bringing it into direct conflict with China.
There have been deadly protests in Vietnam over China's decision to build an oil rig off the Paracels.
One Chinese worker in Vietnam was killed and a dozen injured in riots targeting Chinese and Taiwanese owned factories, prompting 3,000 Chinese nationals to flee the country.
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EEZ can only be imposed based on boundaries of inhabitable land, and this has prompted all the countries making claims on the region to station personnel, and in some cases build military bases out of the water, to bolster their claim.
Building and protecting these structures has resulted in a series of stand-offs between countries in the region, each with the potential to escalate.
China has been leading the charge with these installations, and has deployed vessels to the region to protect their interests.
Chinese coast guard vessels have used a water cannon on Vietnamese vessels, as well as blockading an island where the Philippines has deployed military personnel.
Topics: world-politics, government-and-politics, territorial-disputes, foreign-affairs, china, united-states, asia
