Chinese and US navies to hold talks over South China Sea tension

The Chinese and US navies are 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.

Subi reef, located in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, shown in this satellite image taken September 3, 2015. A US guided-missile destroyer sailed close to one of China's manmade islands in the South China Sea on October 27, 2015, drawing an angry rebuke from Beijing. Handout via Reuters/CSIS asia maritime transparency IiitiativeShow less

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

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

Adm 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, said a Chinese ministry of defence spokesman.

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.

“We would urge the US side not to continue down the wrong path,” Yang Yujun, the defence ministry spokesman, said. “But if they do, we will take all necessary measures in accordance with the need.”

The patrol was the most significant US challenge yet to territorial limits China claims around its artificial islands in one of the world’s busiest sea lanes.

“Neither the US nor China desires a military conflict, but the key problem is that the core interests of both sides collide in the South China Sea,” said Ni Lexiong, a naval expert at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law.

Chinese state media said on Thursday a “guided-missile destroyer flotilla” under the navy’s South China Sea Fleet carried out a “realistic confrontation training exercise” involving anti-aircraft firing and firing at shore at night.

Despite criticism of China’s action in the South China Sea, foreign navies have sought to build ties with their Chinese counterparts.

A French frigate docked at Zhanjiang in the southern province of Guangdong on Wednesdayand will participate in a maritime exercise about accidental encounters at sea.

Two Australian warships will continue scheduled live-fire naval exercises with Beijing in the South China Sea next week, Australian defence minister Marise Payne said on Thursday.

Ms Payne said she supported America’s right to freedom of navigation under international law, but added that Canberra was not involved in the US action.

Chinese president Xi Jinping will next week visit Singapore and Vietnam, another vocal claimant in the South China Sea. His defence chief Chang Wanquan will attend a meeting of South East Asian defence ministers in Malaysia.

Beijing claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than US$5 trillion (Dh 18.37bn) of world trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.

* Reuters