Washington: A US warship on Tuesday sailed close to artificial islands Beijing is building in the South China Sea, a US defense official said, in a move likely to infuriate the rising Asian power.
The USS Lassen passed within 12 nautical miles of at least one of the land formations Beijing claims in the disputed Spratly Islands, the official told AFP.
Under international law, a state's territorial waters extend 12 nautical miles from its shore. However, the US and others argue that this rule cannot apply to artificial islands.
The move is a significant escalation of the dispute over the strategically vital South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety, even waters close to the coasts of other states.
Several neighbouring countries including the Philippines, a US ally, have competing sovereignty claims and the dispute has raised fears of clashes in an area that includes shipping lanes crucial to world trade.
"We are conducting routine operations in the South China Sea in accordance with international law," the official said. "We will fly, sail, and operate anywhere in the world that international law allows."
Tensions have mounted since China transformed reefs in the area into small islands capable of supporting military facilities, a move the US says threatens freedom of navigation.
The work has been seen as an attempt by Beijing to assert its claims by establishing physical facts in the water.
Tuesday's exercise came as China's Communist leaders held a sensitive policy meeting in the capital, but Foreign Minister Wang Yi provided a measured response to the news.
"If true, we advise the American side to think twice before acting, to not act rashly, and to not make trouble out of nothing," the official Xinhua news agency quoted Wang as saying at a seminar.
AFP
