US setting ‘its own standard’ in sea
Freedom of navigation exercise ‘heightening tensions’
Chinese experts said that the US has been self-centered in setting its own standard of “freedom of navigation” in the South China Sea in order to heat up the issue and put pressure on China.
China firmly opposes any individual country using freedom of navigation and overflight as an excuse to harm its sovereignty and security, said Geng Shuang, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday.
Responding to a report that two US bombers flew over the South China Sea, Geng told a daily news briefing on Friday that China respects freedom of navigation and overflight in the East China Sea and South China Sea in accordance with international laws.
“However, China opposes any individual country using the banner of freedom of navigation and overflight to flaunt military force and harm China’s sovereignty and security,” Geng said.
Two US bombers flew over the South China Sea, the US Air Force said on Friday, asserting the right to treat the region as international territory despite China’s claims in the busy waterway, Reuters reported on Friday.
The flight from Guam on Thursday came as US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping were preparing for a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Germany, but the scheduled meeting did not materialize.
“The US has been pursuing ‘American-style’ openness and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea,” Wang Xiaopeng, a maritime border expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday.
The US demands that all of the air and sea space should be open to them, which is selfish and shows its ulterior motive of becoming the jury by getting involved into the South China Sea, according to Wang.
“Moreover, recently the regional countries in the South China Sea have been focusing on peace and cooperation, but the US has been heightening the disputes,” Wang said.
Wang noted that China, as a responsible big country in the South China Sea, has the confidence and ability to maintain the peace and stability of the region, and has been doing so.
The two Lancers that made the latest flight had earlier trained with Japanese jet fighters in the neighboring East China Sea, the first time the two forces had conducted joint night-time drills, Reuters reported.
“This is a clear demonstration of our ability to conduct seamless operations with all our allies,” US Air Force spokesman Major Ryan Simpson said, Reuters reported.
Two US B-1B Lancer bombers flew from Guam over the South China Sea last month, while a US warship carried out a maneuvering drill within 12 nautical miles of one of China’s artificial islands in the waterway in late May, according to the Reuters report.