China slams US warship sail-by near artificial islands

The United States defied China Tuesday by sending a warship close to artificial islands the rising Asian power is building in disputed waters, prompting Beijing to furiously denounce what it called a threat to its sovereignty.

The USS Lassen, a guided missile destroyer, passed within 12 nautical miles -- the normal limit of territorial waters around natural land -- of at least one of the formations Beijing claims in the Spratly Islands. Washington's long-awaited move to assert freedom of navigation in the South China Sea also escalated the dispute over the strategically vital waters, where Beijing has been transforming reefs and outcrops into artificial islands with potential military use. China claims sovereignty over almost the whole of the area, raising concerns it may one day seek to dictate who may transit its bustling sea lanes.

Several neighbouring countries including the Philippines, a US ally, have competing claims and the dispute has raised fears of clashes in an area through which a third of the world's oil passes. The US action was part of the country's "routine operations in the South China Sea in accordance with international law", an American official told AFP.

"We will fly, sail, and operate anywhere in the world that international law allows." China's foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang blasted the exercise, saying that the ship "illegally entered" the waters near the islands "without receiving permission from the Chinese government". Beijing "resolutely opposes any country using freedom of navigation and overflight as a pretext for harming China's national sovereignty and security interests", he said, adding it would "staunchly defend its territorial sovereignty".

Photograph:charybd.com