Washington provokes allies to sabotage S.China Sea peace
A U.S. warship's recent incursion into China's territorial waters aims to contain China by escalating tensions over the South China Sea, and may cause "military friction" between the two countries in the sea, observers said.
The comments come after the USS Curtis Wilbur, a guided missile destroyer, sailed within 12 nautical miles of Zhongjian Dao, one of the Xisha Islands on Saturday.
Pentagon spokesperson Jeff Davis confirmed the incident and said that the U.S. "conducted a freedom of navigation operation in the South China Sea," and the move "is to challenge excessive maritime claims of parties that claim the islands," AFP reported.
"The U.S. warship violated Chinese laws and entered China's territorial waters without authorization," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Saturday.
The same day, Chinese defense ministry spokesperson Yang Yujun also objected to the move, saying that the U.S. act severely violated Chinese law, sabotaged the peace, security and good order of the waters, and undermined the region's peace and stability.
The strong responses from Chinese authorities show China's determination to safeguard its sovereignty and strike back against provocative measures, experts said.
A similar act of provocation occurred on October 27, 2015, when the USS Lassen illegally entered waters near islands and reefs of China's Nansha Islands without permission, and led to strong opposition from China, the ministry of foreign affairs said.
Deliberate provocation
The U.S. has revealed its "groundless" and "sinister" intention to sabotage regional stability, since Zhongjian Dao is internationally recognized as Chinese territory and there are no disputes in the waters. Therefore, the latest intrusion is much worse than the one last October, experts said.
In May 1996, the Chinese government published a statement on its territorial sea baseline, which determined the baseline of territorial waters adjacent to the Chinese mainland and the baseline of waters adjacent to the Xisha Islands, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
China's indisputable sovereignty over the islands is recognized by most ASEAN countries except Vietnam. The U.S. is fully aware of this but still deliberately expands the scope of South China Sea disputes and sabotages the stability and peace of the Xisha Islands, Liu Feng, a Hainan-based expert on the South China Sea, told the Global Times.
"The U.S. is trying to encourage Vietnam to complicate the South China Sea situation since it also has claims over the Xisha Islands," Liu said.
Vietnam dispatched ships to deliberately ram into Chinese government ships in May 2014, when a Chinese oil rig arrived 17 nautical miles from the Zhongjian Dao.
"The two countries' game over the Nansha Islands has reached a deadlock, while the situation in the Xisha Islands is stable and draws less attention. The U.S. is playing up issues on the Xisha Islands to put China under increased diplomatic pressure," said Zha Xiaogang, a researcher at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies.
By sending its warships to China's territorial waters, the U.S. is challenging China as well as supporting its allies, such as the Philippines, so that it can interfere in the South China Sea dispute. In the long run, the U.S. is advancing its rebalance to Asia and the Pacific to contain China, Zhang Junshe, a research fellow at the Chinese Naval Research Institute told the Global Times.
A U.S.-ASEAN summit is scheduled in February to "further advance the Obama administration's rebalance to Asia and the Pacific," according to a White House statement published last December.
Japan has doubled the number of F-15 fighter jets deployed on the southern island of Okinawa near disputed islands in the East China Sea, AFP cited the defense ministry as saying on Sunday.
Japan's Air Self-Defense Forces now has about 40 F-15s on Okinawa's Naha base, according to the defense ministry.
Countermeasures
China should make no concessions to the U.S.' "wild ambition," as the U.S. may take more severe measures to contain China in the South China Sea under the name of freedom of navigation, Zha said, but it cannot be used as an excuse to intrude in another country's territory.
Meanwhile, the U.S. so-called "freedom of navigation" is based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea, which is approved by more than 150 countries including China. The U.S. hasn't ratified it, yet has selectively chosen "innocent passage" as an excuse to justify its move, Zhang said.
According to Zhang, warships must acquire approval from the coastal states for "innocent passage," a rule adopted by U.S. allies such as South Korea.
China's defense ministry also stressed that the country's military forces will take whatever measures necessary to safeguard the country's sovereignty and security.
Reacting to Saturday incident, which was "very unprofessional and irresponsible, and may have caused extremely dangerous consequences," Chinese troops, naval ships and warplanes warned and expelled the U.S. warship immediately, the ministry said.
"China's restraints can never satisfy the U.S.. If the U.S. keeps pressing China, a small-scale regional clash is likely to happen. China may be forced to take countermeasures that can even include military action in addition to dialogue with relevant countries," Zha said.
China has consistently exercised great restraint in disputes over the South China Sea, but when facing groundless provocations and threats to the country's territorial integrity, China's naval power is strong enough to defend itself, Chen Xiangmiao, a research fellow at the National Institute for the South China Sea told the Global Times.
