China says will respond to US ships

Australia to join Chinese navy exercises

BEIJING, Oct 29, (Agencies): China’s military will take “all necessary” measures in response to any future US Navy incursions into what it considers its territorial waters around islands in the South China Sea, a Defense Ministry spokesman said Thursday.

The statement by Col Yang Yujun followed the sailing of a US guided missile destroyer within the 12-nautical mile (22-kilometer) territorial limit of one of the islands newly created by China in the strategically vital region. The US refuses to recognize the man-made islets as deserving of sovereign territory status.

The Chinese side took no forceful action during the USS Lassen’s sailby on Tuesday, but strenuously protested the maneuver. China’s reaction fits the pattern in similar such incidents in recent years. Yang offered no details on how Beijing might respond differently in the future.

“We would urge the US not to continue down the wrong path. But if the US side does continue, we will take all necessary measures according to the need,” Yang said. China’s resolve to safeguard its national sovereignty and security interests is “rock-solid,” he added.

China claims virtually the entire South China Sea and its islands, reefs and atolls as its sovereign territory, an assertion challenged by five other regional governments.

While the US takes no formal position on sovereignty, it insists on freedom of navigation and has urged China to cease its ambitious project to construct new islands complete with buildings, harbors and airstrips.

Yang reiterated Beijing’s claim that the USS Lassen violated Chinese sovereignty and international law, although the sail-by appeared to fall under internationally allowed “innocent passage” rules. Yang gave no details of China’s claims.

Yang said a pair of Chinese navy ships had shadowed the Lassen, monitored its actions and issued warnings. The spokesman said China supported the right to freedom of navigation and overflight, but accused the US of abusing those for its own interests.

“We are strongly against any kind of effort in the name of freedom of navigation that might damage the interests and security of the littoral states,” Yang said.

Yang said that the commander of the Chinese navy, Adm. Wu Shengli, would present China’s “solemn position” on the issue in a video conference later Thursday with the US head of naval operations, Adm. John

Richardson.

However, he indicated that the incident wouldn’t disrupt official exchanges between the sides, saying that planning was still underway for a visit by Adm. Harry Harris Jr, commander of the US Pacific Command, later this year. Harris recently stated that the South China Sea is no more China’s than the Gulf of Mexico is Mexico’s.

The Chinese and US navies were set to hold high-level talks over tension in the South China Sea after a US warship challenged China’s territorial assertions in the disputed waters this week.

US chief of naval operations Admiral John Richardson and his Chinese counterpart, Admiral Wu Shengli, were to hold an hour long video teleconference on Thursday, a US official said.

A spokesman for China’s Ministry of Defence said Wu would present China’s “solemn position on the US vessel’s entry without permission”

into waters in the Spratly archipelago in the South China Sea.

Both officers initiated the meeting to discuss recent operations in the South China Sea as well as naval ties, the US official said. It will be the third such video teleconference between the countries’ naval chiefs.

Beijing rebuked Washington for sending a guided-missile destroyer within 12 nautical miles of one of China’s man-made islands in the Spratly archipelago on Tuesday, saying it had tracked and warned the USS Lassen and called in the US ambassador to protest.

Also: Two Australian warships will hold exercises with the Chinese navy in the South China Sea next week, Australia’s defence minister said on Thursday, just days after a US navy patrol near a man-made Chinese island in the disputed waters angered Beijing.

The HMAS Stuart and HMAS

Arunta will visit China’s main South China Sea base of Zhanjiang in the southern province of Guangdong ahead of drills scheduled for early next week, Marise Payne said.

“The Royal Australian Navy has a long history of engagement with regional navies and regularly conducts port visits and exercises — including in China,” Payne said in a statement.

“There have been no changes or delays to the schedule of the HMAS Arunta and HMAS Stuart since the United States activity in the South China Sea on 27 October 2015.”

The statement gave no details on the precise location for the exercise. Australian media said it would include live-fire drills.

China rebuked Washington for sending a US guided-missile destroyer close to Subi Reef in the Spratly archipelago on Tuesday, saying it had tracked and warned the USS Lassen and called in the American ambassador to protest.