Tag Archives: South China Sea

China signals no South China Sea backdown as foreign minister goes to U.S.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s South China Sea military deployments are no different from U.S. deployments on Hawaii, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday, striking a combative tone ahead of a visit by Foreign Minister Wang Yi to the United States this week.

The United States last week accused China of raising tensions in the South China Sea by its apparent deployment of surface-to-air missiles on a disputed island, a move China has neither confirmed nor denied.

Asked whether the South China Sea, and the missiles, would come up when Wang is in the United States to meet Secretary of State John Kerry, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Washington should not use the issue of military facilities on the islands as a “pretext to make a fuss”.

“The U.S. is not involved in the South China Sea dispute, and this is not and should not become a problem between China and the United States,” Hua told a daily news briefing.

China hopes the U.S. abides by its promises not to take sides in the dispute and stop “hyping up” the issue and tensions, especially over China’s “limited” military positions there, she said.

“China’s deploying necessary, limited defensive facilities on its own territory is not substantively different from the United States defending Hawaii,” Hua added.

U.S. ships and aircraft carrying out frequent, close-in patrols and surveillance in recent years is what has increased regional tensions, she said.

“It’s this that is the biggest cause of the militarization of the South China Sea. We hope that the United States does not confuse right and wrong on this issue or practice double standards.”

AUSTRALIA OPERATIONS URGED

On Monday, a senior U.S. naval officer was reported as saying Australia and other countries should follow the U.S. lead and conduct “freedom-of-navigation” naval operations within 12 nautical miles of contested islands in the South China Sea.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.

Beijing has rattled nerves with construction and reclamation activities on the islands it occupies, though it says these moves are mostly for civilian purposes.

The state-owned China Southern Power Grid Company will set up a power grid management station in what China calls Sansha City, located on Woody Island in the Paracels, which will be able to access microgrids in 16 other islands, according to China’s top regulator of state-owned assets.

In the long term, the station will be able to remotely manage power for many islands there, the statement added, without specifying which islands it was referring to.

Wang is scheduled to be in the U.S. from Tuesday until Thursday.

Hua said the minister is also expected to discuss North Korea, and she repeated China’s opposition to the possible U.S. deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system following North Korea’s recent rocket launch.

(Additional reporting by Megha Rajagopalan; Editing by Richard Borsuk)

Vietnam protests China missile deployment, other countries urge restraint

HANOI/SYDNEY (Reuters) – Vietnam protested to China on Friday at a “serious violation” of its sovereignty over Beijing’s apparent deployment of an advanced missile system on a disputed South China Sea island, while Australia and New Zealand urged Chinese restraint.

Tensions between China and its neighbors over maritime territory have risen since Taiwan and U.S. officials said Beijing had placed surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island, part of the Paracel archipelago it controls.

“Vietnam is deeply concerned about the actions by China. These are serious infringements of Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Paracels, threatening peace and stability in the region as well as security, safety and freedom of navigation and flight,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said in a statement.

“Vietnam demands China immediately stop such erroneous actions.”

The statement said diplomatic notes had been issued to China’s embassy in Hanoi and to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to protest at Beijing’s activities, including the building of a military helicopter base on Duncan island.

Earlier, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had urged claimants to refrain from island-building and militarization in the South China Sea.

“It is absolutely critical that we ensure that there is a lowering of tensions,” said Turnbull, speaking after a meeting in Sydney with New Zealand counterpart John Key.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year and which is believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.

The Philippines said it was “gravely concerned” about the reports of missiles being deployed on Woody Island.

“These developments further erode trust and confidence and aggravate the already tense situation,” its Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Australia’s Turnbull said if Chinese President Xi Jinping was serious about avoiding the so-called Thucydides Trap, a foreign policy metaphor inspired by ancient Athens and Sparta in which a rising power causes fear in an established power that escalates toward war, he must resolve disputes through international law.

“President Xi is right in identifying avoiding that trap as a key goal,” said Turnbull.

U.S. PATROLS

Beijing has been angered by air and sea patrols the United States has conducted near islands China claims. Those have included one by two B-52 strategic bombers in November and by a U.S. Navy destroyer that sailed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island in the Paracels last month.

Key said New Zealand, the first developed country to recognize China as a market economy and to sign a bilateral free trade deal, was leveraging its relationship with China to urge measures to lower tensions.

“Does that give us more opportunities to make that case, both privately and publicly? … my view is yes,” said Key, noting that both Australia and New Zealand are now also part of the Beijing-led Asian Investment Bank.

The comments come after Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop visited Beijing, where she raised the issues of the missiles and the South China Sea in meetings with Chinese officials, including top diplomat Yang Jiechi.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Australia and New Zealand “are not countries involved in the South China Sea”.

“We hope the two countries can objectively view the historical developments of the South China Sea, not neglect the facts, and not put forward proposals that are unconstructive,” Hong told reporters.

The Chinese government has offered few details in response to the missile claim, while accusing Western media of “hyping up” the story and saying China has a legitimate right to military facilities on territory it views as its own.

An influential Chinese state-run tabloid, the Global Times, in an editorial on Friday, described the HQ-9 missiles that are apparently now on Woody Island as “a typical type of defensive weapon”, but warned the People’s Liberation Army might feel compelled to deploy more weapons.

“If the U.S. military stages a real threat and a military clash is looming, the PLA may feel propelled to deploy more powerful weapons,” it said.

At a summit of Southeast Asian leaders in California on Monday, Vietnam’s prime minister suggested to U.S. President Barack Obama that Washington take “more efficient actions” against militarization and island-building.

(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard and Michael Martina in BEIJING and Manuel Mogato in MANILA; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Alex Richardson)

U.S. expects ‘very serious’ talks with China after missile reports

WASHINGTON/TAIPEI (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday the United States expects to have “very serious” talks with China about militarization of the South China Sea after reports that Beijing deployed advanced surface-to-air missiles to a disputed island.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said the missile batteries had been set up on Woody Island in the Paracels chain, which has been under Chinese control for decades but also is claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam.

A U.S. defense official also confirmed the “apparent deployment” of the missiles, first reported by Fox News.

“There is every evidence, every day that there has been an increase of militarization of one kind or another,” Kerry told reporters when asked about the reported deployment. “It’s of serious concern.

“We have had these conversations with the Chinese and I am confident that over the next days we will have further very serious conversation on this.”

The United States claims no territory in the South China Sea but has expressed serious concerns about how China’s increasingly assertive pursuit of territorial claims there could affect the vital global trade routes that pass though it.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters the “limited and necessary self-defense facilities” China had on islands and reefs where it has personnel stationed was “consistent with the right to self-protection that China is entitled to under international law.”

The Chinese Defense Ministry told Reuters the latest reports about missile deployment were nothing but “hype.”

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.

TOPIC AT ASEAN MEETING

News of the missile deployment came as U.S. President Barack Obama and leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations concluded a summit in California, where they discussed the need to ease tensions in the South China Sea.

It also followed a patrol by a U.S. Navy destroyer within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island in the Paracels last month, a move China condemned as provocative.

The United States also has conducted sea and air patrols near artificial islands that China has built in the Spratly islands chain farther south in the South China Sea, including by two B-52 strategic bombers in November.

Obama said the United States planned to continue such patrols in the name of freedom of navigation.

Admiral Harry Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, said at a news briefing in Tokyo that deployment of missiles to the Paracels would not be a surprise but would be a concern and contrary to China’s pledge not to militarize the region.

Some analysts believe China’s increasing military presence in the South China Sea could lead to a Beijing-controlled air defense zone there.

“(The missile deployment) reinforces the view that China intends to exert growing control in these international waters, including potentially by declaring an Air Defense Identification Zone,” said Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at the Australian National University.

Mira Rapp-Hooper, a South China Sea expert from the Center for a New American Security, said it was not the first time China had sent air-defense missiles to the Paracels, but the latest move appeared to be a response to U.S. patrols.

She noted that while China had said it did not seek to militarize islands and reefs in the Spratly Islands, it had made no such commitment for the Paracels, where it has stationed military assets for years.

Ni Lexiong, a naval expert at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said Woody Island belonged to China.

“Deploying surface-to-air missiles on our territory is completely within the scope of our sovereign rights,” he said. “We have sovereignty there, so we can choose whether to militarize it.”

Fox News said images from civilian satellite firm ImageSat International show two batteries of eight surface-to-air missile launchers on Woody Island, as well as a radar system.

The missiles arrived in the past week and, according to a U.S. official, appeared to show the HQ-9 air defense system, which has a range of 125 miles and would pose a threat to any airplanes flying close by, the report said.

(Additional reporting by Faith Hung in Taipei, David Brunnstrom and Arshad Mohammed in Washington, Jeff Mason and Bruce Wallace in Rancho Mirage, Megha Rajagopalan and Ben Blanchard in Beijing, Tim Kelly in Tokyo, Martin Petty in Hanoi, Matt Siegel in Sydney; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Bill Trott)

South China Sea takes center stage at U.S.-ASEAN summit

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama and Southeast Asian leaders turned their attention to China on Tuesday on the second day of a summit intended to improve commercial links and provide a united front on maritime disputes with Beijing.

After a first day discussing trade and economic issues at the Sunnylands resort in California, Obama and his Association of Southeast Asian Nations counterparts were to try to arrive at a common position on the South China Sea, where China and several ASEAN states have conflicting claims.

Not all the 10 ASEAN nations agree on how to handle the disputes and U.S. officials want a statement calling for China to follow international law and handle disputes peacefully.

“We will be continuing to work with our ASEAN partners on a potential statement that we might issue together,” White House national security adviser Susan Rice said on Monday.

She said past statements had underscored a “shared commitment to a peaceful resolution of disputes, freedom of commerce and navigation, the rule of law, and the necessity of disputes being resolved through peaceful, legal means.”

Obama is expected to address the issue at a news conference at the conclusion of the summit around 1:30 PST.

On Monday, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung urged Washington to use a stronger voice and “more practical and more efficient actions” to prevent militarization and island-building in the South China Sea, the Hanoi government said.

China claims most of the South China Sea. ASEAN members Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Vietnam have rival claims.

The United States has criticized China’s building of artificial islands and facilities in the sea and has sailed warships close to disputed territory to assert the right to freedom of navigation.

China accused Washington of seeking maritime hegemony through such patrols.

On Monday, Washington responded to a weekend report in The Diplomat magazine that said China was building a helicopter base at Duncan Island in the Paracel island chain by calling on all claimants to halt construction and militarization of outposts.

“Such a reciprocal halt would help to lower tensions and create space for diplomatic solutions,” State Department spokeswoman Katina Adams said, repeating a call on China and ASEAN to conclude a “meaningful” Code of Conduct for the South China Sea as soon as possible.

The White House also has emphasized non-China related aspects at Sunnylands and CEOs of IBM, Microsoft and Cisco were brought into Monday’s private sessions with the leaders to help strengthen commercial ties.

“The potential for deepening our economic engagement is tremendous,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said. Monday’s discussions ranged from the need for capital to creating an entrepreneurial culture in Asia that is prepared to tolerate business failure.

But even business leaders are watching the South China Sea.

“What keeps us up at night is that one of the big tension areas is the South China Sea,” said Alexander Feldman, president of the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council.

“We would like as a business community to see those differences and overlapping claims be addressed in a way that is done though discussion rather than military confrontation.”

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Larry King and Bill Trott)

U.S. admiral warns against Chinese fighter flights from South China Sea runways

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Any move by China to fly jet fighters from runways on its new man-made islands in the disputed South China Sea would be destabilizing and would not deter U.S. flights over the area, a senior U.S. naval officer said on Monday.

Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin, the commander of the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet, also urged Beijing to be more open over its intentions in the South China Sea, saying it would relieve “some of the angst we are now seeing”.

“We are unsure where they are taking us,” Aucoin said of China’s recent moves during briefing with journalists in Singapore.

“So we are going to sail, fly, operate throughout these waters….like we have been doing for so long,” he said.

That, he added, included “flying over that airspace.”

Chinese and regional security analysts expect Beijing to start using its new runways in the disputed Spratlys archipelago for military operations in the next few months.

It last month tested for the first time the 3,000-meter runway built on a reclamation on Fiery Cross Reef by landing several civilian airliners from Hainan island.

Aucoin said he could not give an estimate when he expected Chinese military jets to start operating in the Spratlys.

“It’s a destabilizing uncertainty,” he said when asked about the impact of possible Chinese jet fighter patrols. He said it would raise questions about the intentions.

China claims much of the South China Sea, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims.

International concern is growing over tensions in the waterway, which carries an estimated $5 trillion in trade every year, including oil used by northeast Asian nations.

Since last October, two U.S. warships have sailed close to Chinese claimed features in the Spratly and Paracel archipelagoes in so-called freedom-of-navigation operations that Beijing has warned are provocative.

Chinese officials complained last December that a U.S. B-52 bomber flew close to one of Beijing’s artificial islands.

Other U.S. surveillance and transport planes routinely fly throughout the South China Sea.

Chinese warships and civilian vessels routinely flank U.S. naval ships in the area, but Aucoin said engagement between the two navies would continue, saying the relationship was “positive”.

“(The) International Law of the Sea has helped (China) for so many years. We just want them to respect those rights so that we can all continue to prosper,” he said.

(Reporting by Rujun Shen in Singapore; writing by Greg Torode in Hong Kong; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

China issues warning as U.S., India consider South China Sea patrols

BEIJING (Reuters) – China on Thursday responded to a Reuters report that the U.S. and India are discussing joint naval patrols in the disputed South China Sea, warning that interference from countries outside the region threatens peace and stability.

“No cooperation between any countries should be directed at a third party,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in an emailed statement to Reuters, in response to a request for comment on the report published on Wednesday.

“Countries from outside the area must stop pushing forward the militarization of the South China Sea, cease endangering the sovereignty and national security of littoral countries in the name of ‘freedom of navigation’ and harming the peace and stability of the region.”

The United States wants its regional allies and other Asian nations to adopt a more united stance against China over the South China Sea, where tension has spiked since China’s construction of seven islands in the Spratly archipelago.

China lays claim to most of the South China Sea, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have rival claims.

A U.S. defense official told Reuters this week the United States and India had held talks about joint naval patrols that could include the South China Sea.

The Indian navy has never carried out joint patrols with another country and a navy spokesman told Reuters there was no change in the government’s policy of only joining an international military effort under the U.N. flag.

Neither the United States nor India have claims to the area, but the United States says it is concerned about shipping lanes running through the South China Sea, which carry an estimated $5 trillion of trade every year.

Hong urged caution.

“We hope that the relevant parties speak and act with caution, refrain from intervening in the South China Sea issue, and especially avoid being manipulated by certain countries and ultimately harming their own interests.”

China illustrates its claim to almost the entire South China Sea with a “nine-dashed line” on maps, that loops far to the south, with sections far closer to the coasts of countries like the Philippines and Vietnam than to its shores.

China’s more assertive claim has included dredging to build up islands and the construction of air fields and shipping facilities on some reefs. It recently launched flights to one artificial island.

The United States has responded by sending navy ships close to the islands China claims. China has condemned that as provocative.

India has a long-running land border dispute with China, and has stepped up its naval presence far beyond the Indian Ocean in recent years, deploying a ship to the South China Sea almost constantly, an Indian navy commander said.

(Reporting by Megha Rajagopalan and Pete Sweeney)

U.S. & India consider joint patrols in South China Sea

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The United States and India have held talks about conducting joint naval patrols that a U.S. defense official said could include the disputed South China Sea, a move that would likely anger Beijing, which claims most of the waterway.

Washington wants its regional allies and other Asian nations to take a more united stance against China over the South China Sea, where tensions have spiked in the wake of Beijing’s construction of seven man-made islands in the Spratly archipelago.

India and the United States have ramped up military ties in recent years, holding naval exercises in the Indian Ocean that last year involved the Japanese navy.

But the Indian navy has never carried out joint patrols with another country and a naval spokesman told Reuters there was no change in the government’s policy of only joining an international military effort under the United Nations flag.

He pointed to India’s refusal to be part of anti-piracy missions involving dozens of countries in the Gulf of Aden and instead carrying out its own operations there since 2008.

The U.S. defense official said the two sides had discussed joint patrols, adding that both were hopeful of launching them within the year. The patrols would likely be in the Indian Ocean where the Indian navy is a major player as well as the South China Sea, the official told Reuters in New Delhi on condition of anonymity.

The official gave no details on the scale of the proposed patrols.

There was no immediate comment from China, which is on a week-long holiday for Chinese New Year.

China accused Washington this month of seeking maritime hegemony in the name of freedom of navigation after a U.S. Navy destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of a disputed island in the Paracel chain of the South China Sea in late January.

The U.S. Navy conducted a similar exercise in October near one of China’s artificial islands in the Spratlys.

MARITIME COOPERATION

Neither India nor the United States has claims to the South China Sea, but both said they backed freedom of navigation and overflight in the waterway when U.S. President Barack Obama visited New Delhi in January 2015.

Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also agreed at the time to “identify specific areas for expanding maritime cooperation”.

More than $5 trillion in world trade moves through the South China Sea each year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan also claim parts of the waterway.

In December, the issue of joint patrols came up when Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar visited the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii, an Indian government source said.

“It was a broad discussion, it was about the potential for joint patrols,” said the source, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

India has a long-running land border dispute with China and has been careful not to antagonize its more powerful neighbor, instead focusing on building economic ties.

But it has stepped up its naval presence far beyond the Indian Ocean, deploying a ship to the South China Sea almost constantly, an Indian navy commander said, noting this wasn’t the practice a few years ago.

The commander added that the largest number of Indian naval ship visits in the South China Sea region was to Vietnam, a country rapidly building military muscle for potential conflict with China over the waterway.

Still, the idea of joining the United States in patrols in the region was a long shot, the officer added.

The Philippines has asked the United States to do joint naval patrols in the South China Sea, something a U.S. diplomat said this month was a possibility.

(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick in Washington; and Megha Rajagopalan in Beijing; Editing by Dean Yates)

China says U.S. seeks ‘hegemony’ after South China Sea sailing

BEIJING (Reuters) – China accused the United States on Monday of seeking maritime hegemony in the name of freedom of navigation after a U.S. Navy destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of a disputed island in the South China Sea.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of world trade is shipped every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.

The guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur passed near Triton Island in the Paracel Islands, in what the Pentagon said was a challenge to attempts by China, Taiwan and Vietnam to restrict navigation rights and freedoms.

The Chinese government, which moved swiftly to condemn to sailing on Saturday, said the United States was acting dangerously and irresponsibly.

“The so-called freedom of navigation plans and acts that the United States has upheld for many years in reality do not accord with generally recognized international law,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a daily news briefing.

It also “ignores numerous littoral states’ sovereignty and security and maritime rights, seriously harming relevant regional peace and stability”, he added.

“Its essence is to push the United States’ maritime hegemony in the name of freedom of navigation, which has always been resolutely opposed by most of the international community, especially certain developing nations. What the United States has done is dangerous and irresponsible.”

One of the main causes of the militarization of the South China Sea is the United States’ playing the freedom of navigation card and “creating tensions”, Lu said.

The U.S. Navy conducted a similar exercise in October in which the guided-missile destroyer Lassen sailed close to one of China’s man-made islands, also drawing a rebuke from Beijing.

In an editorial on Monday, the influential state-run Chinese tabloid the Global Times said the latest move by the United States showed how Washington was “circling to contain” China and that China’s military had few ways of stopping such patrols.

China thus needs to spend more on its armed forces, the paper added.

“There is a long way to go before China can have an equal footing with the U.S. Such equality can only be achieved with the build-up of strategic strength,” it said.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry)

Philippine court allows military deal with U.S. as sides meet in Washington

MANILA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Philippines Supreme Court on Tuesday declared constitutional a security deal with the United States allowing an increased U.S. military presence in the former U.S. colony as tension rises in the South China Sea.

Dozens of anti-U.S. activists held protests outside the court denouncing the deal as a de facto basing agreement that would make the Philippines a launching pad for military intervention in the region.

Manila has long been a staunch U.S. ally and the pact is widely seen as important for both sides, worried by China’s increasingly assertive pursuit of territorial claims in the disputed South China Sea.

The court voted 10-4 to deny a petition of some lawmakers and activists to declare the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) unconstitutional because it surrendered Philippine sovereignty to a foreign power.

“EDCA is not constitutionally infirm,” said Supreme Court spokesman Theodore Te. “It remains consistent with existing laws and treaties that it purports to implement.”

In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ash Carter welcomed the court’s decision as they began talks with their Philippine counterparts on security and economic issues, including tensions in the South China Sea and the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

“The United States has an iron-clad commitment to the security of the Philippines,” Kerry said in opening remarks. “To that end we welcome the Philippines Supreme Court’s decision … (and) look forward to implementing this accord,” he added.

Philippine Defense Minister Voltaire Gazmin said security cooperation with the United States had become more intertwined amid increasing tensions over the South China Sea.

“While we grapple with non-traditional security concerns and natural … disasters, traditional security challenges, to include territorial and maritime disputes, remain … fundamental concerns,” he said. “Given this strategic context, we should be in a position to address such common concerns, as well as contribute to regional peace and stability.”

The pact, signed days before U.S. President Barack Obama visited the Philippines in 2014, will allow U.S. troops to build facilities to store equipment for maritime security and humanitarian and disaster response operations, in addition to giving broad access to Philippine military bases.

U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain called it “a landmark agreement … (that) will bring our alliance to a level of cooperation and integration that we have not witnessed in decades.

“As Manila finds itself the target of Chinese coercion in the West Philippine Sea and is looking to Washington for leadership, this agreement will give us new tools to … expand engagement with the Philippine Armed Forces, and enhance our presence in Southeast Asia,” he said in a statement.

McCain said he looked forward to implementation this year of a congressional Maritime Security Initiative he has championed that will provide resources to build the maritime capacity of the Philippines and other Southeast Asia countries.

Philippine military officials say there has been an increase in U.S. exercises, training and ship and aircraft visits in the past year under Obama’s “rebalance” of U.S. forces and diplomatic efforts to Asia in the face of China’s rise, but the pact would take the relationship a step further.

China claims almost all the South China Sea, which is believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas, and has been building up facilities on islands it controls.

Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines also have claims. Tension rose this month when China began test flights on Fiery Cross Reef, one of three artificial islands where Beijing has constructed airfields.

(Reporting by Manuel Mogato in Manila; Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom, Andrea Shalal and Lesley Wroughton in Washington; Editing by Nick Macfie, Dan Grebler and James Dalgleish)

China again lands planes on disputed island in South China Sea: Xinhua

BEIJING (Reuters) – China on Wednesday landed two test flights on an island it has built in the South China Sea, four days after it angered Vietnam with a landing on the same runway in the disputed territory, the Xinhua state news agency said.

The two flights are likely to spark further condemnation from Vietnam, which launched a formal diplomatic protest over the weekend, and the Philippines, which said it was planning to do the same.

Both countries have claims to the area that overlap with that of China, which claims almost the whole of the South China Sea.

Xinhua said the two planes landed on an artificial island in the Spratly Islands on Wednesday morning.

“The successful test flights proved that the airport has the capacity to ensure the safe operation of large civilian aircraft,” Xinhua said, adding that the airport would facilitate the transport of supplies, personnel and medical aid.

Xinhua did not give any more detail about what type of aircraft had landed.

The runway at the Fiery Cross Reef is 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) long and is one of three China has been building for more than a year by dredging sand up onto reefs and atolls in the Spratly archipelago.

On Saturday, China landed a civilian plane on the same runway in the Spratlys in its first test, which was also the first time it had used a runway in the area.

The United States has criticized China’s construction of the islands and worries that it plans to use them for military purposes, even though China says it has no hostile intent.

The United States said after the first landing it was concerned that the flight had exacerbated tension.

The runways would be long enough to handle long-range bombers and transport aircraft as well as China’s best jet fighters, giving it a presence deep in the maritime heart of Southeast Asia that it has lacked until now.

More than $5 trillion of world trade is shipped through the South China Sea every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.

(Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Robert Birsel)