China lodges complaint with US over spy plane flight

BEIJING – China said yesterday it had lodged a complaint with the United States over a US spy plane that flew over parts of the disputed South China Sea in a diplomatic row that has fuelled tension between the world’s two largest economies.

Friction in the region has grown over China’s land reclamation in the Spratly islands. China last week said it was “strongly dissatisfied” after a US spy plane flew over areas near the reefs, with both sides accusing each other of stoking instability.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Monday China had lodged a complaint and that it opposed “provocative behavior” by the United States.

“We urge the US to correct its error, remain rational and stop all irresponsible words and deeds,” she said. “Freedom of navigation and overflight by no means mean that foreign countries’ warships and military aircraft can ignore the legitimate rights of other countries as well as the safety of aviation and navigation.”

China had noted “ear- piercing voices” from many in the US about China’s construction on the islands and reefs.

The nationalist Global Times, a tabloid owned by the ruling Communist Party’s official newspaper, the People’s Daily, said war was “inevitable” between China and the United States unless Washington stopped demanding Beijing halt the building of artificial islands in the disputed waterway.

It said China was determined to finish its construction work, calling it the country’s “most important bottom line.”

Such commentaries are not official policy statements, but are sometimes read as a reflection of government thinking.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims.

The United States has routinely called on all claimants to halt reclamation in the Spratlys, but accuses China of carrying out work on a scale that far outstrips any other country.