Elements of the US Navy's Pacific Fleet look set to exercise the right to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, as China completes two lighthouses in the region and the US and its allies including Australia appear to lose strategic control.
The commander of US forces in the Pacific (PACOM) said on Friday the US must carry out freedom of navigation patrols throughout the Asia Pacific, but declined to say whether it planned go within 12 nautical miles of China's artificial islands in the South China Sea, according to Reuters.
"I believe that we should exercise freedom of navigation wherever we need to. With regards to whether we are going to sail within 12 miles, or fly within 12 miles, of any of the reclaimed islands that China has build in the South China Sea, I will reserve that for later," Admiral Harry Harris said.
This followed comments made at the Pacific 2015 International Maritime Expo by Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Scott Swift and reported by ADM: “It’s my sense that some nations view freedom of the seas as up for grabs, as something that can be taken down and redefined by domestic law or by reinterpreting international law,” ADM Swift said.
A US defence official told Reuters on Thursday the US was considering sending ships inside the zones, and the US Defense Department was awaiting final approval from the Obama administration.
China's Foreign Ministry responded swiftly the same day and said Beijing would not stand for violations of its territorial waters in the name of freedom of navigation and urged "related parties not to take any provocative actions."
At the same time, China's official Xinhua news agency reported China has just completed the construction of two lighthouses in the disputed sea. Beijing has said construction in the region is to help maritime search and rescue, disaster relief, environmental protection and navigational security. It has also said it will continue to build other installations to better serve countries in the region and vessels navigating those waters.
Peter Jennings, the executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a leading drafter of the upcoming defence white paper, told The Australian that the allies have lost basic control of the South China Sea.
According to Jennings, China’s continued construction of and on islets in the sea despite earlier American vows to conduct “freedom of navigation” naval and air exercises near the reclaimed land structures, comprised “the second time the US administration has lost focus".