Tag Archives: U.S. Navy

China scrambles fighters as U.S. sails warship near Chinese claimed reef

Still image from a United States Navy video purportedly shows Chinese dredging vessels in the waters around Fiery Cross Reef in the disputed Spratly

By Michael Martina, Greg Torode and Ben Blanchard

BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) – China scrambled fighter jets on Tuesday as a U.S. navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea, a patrol China denounced as an illegal threat to peace which only went to show its defense installations in the area were necessary.

Guided missile destroyer the USS William P. Lawrence traveled within 12 nautical miles of Chinese-occupied Fiery Cross Reef, U.S. Defense Department spokesman, Bill Urban said.

The so-called freedom of navigation operation was undertaken to “challenge excessive maritime claims” by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam which were seeking to restrict navigation rights in the South China Sea, Urban said.

“These excessive maritime claims are inconsistent with international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention in that they purport to restrict the navigation rights that the United States and all states are entitled to exercise,” Urban said in an emailed statement.

China and the United States have traded accusations of militarizing the South China Sea as China undertakes large-scale land reclamations and construction on disputed features while the United States has increased its patrols and exercises.

Facilities on Fiery Cross Reef include a 3,000-metre (10,000-foot) runway which the United States worries China will use it to press its extensive territorial claims at the expense of weaker rivals.

China’s Defence Ministry said two fighter jets were scrambled and three warships shadowed the U.S. ship, telling it to leave.

The U.S. patrol “again proves that China’s construction of defensive facilities on the relevant reefs in the Nansha Islands is completely reasonable and totally necessary”, it said, using China’s name for the Spratly Islands where much of its reclamation work is taking place.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the U.S. ship illegally entered Chinese waters.

“This action by the U.S. side threatened China’s sovereignty and security interests, endangered the staff and facilities on the reef, and damaged regional peace and stability,” he told a daily news briefing.

SENSITIVE AREA

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 Pentagon last month called on China to reaffirm it has no plans to deploy military aircraft in the Spratly Islands after China used a military plane to evacuate sick workers from Fiery Cross.

“Fiery Cross is sensitive because it is presumed to be the future hub of Chinese military operations in the South China Sea, given its already extensive infrastructure, including its large and deep port and 3000-metre runway,” said Ian Storey, a South China Sea expert at Singapore’s ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute.

“The timing is interesting, too. It is a show of U.S. determination ahead of President Obama’s trip to Vietnam later this month.”

Speaking in Vietnam, Daniel Russel, assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, said freedom of navigation operations were important for smaller nations.

“If the world’s most powerful navy cannot sail where international law permits, then what happens to the ships of navy of smaller countries?,” Russel told reporters before news of the operation was made public.

China has reacted with anger to previous U.S. freedom of navigation operations, including the overflight of fighter planes near the disputed Scarborough Shoal last month, and when long-range U.S. bombers flew near Chinese facilities under construction on Cuarteron Reef in the Spratlys last November.

U.S. naval officials believe China has plans to start reclamation and construction activities on Scarborough Shoal, which sits further north of the Spratlys within the Philippines claimed 200 nautical mile (370 km) exclusive economic zone.

A tough-talking city mayor, Rodrigo Duterte, looks set to become president of the Philippines after an election on Monday. He has proposed multilateral talks on the South China Sea.

A Chinese diplomat warned last week that criticism of China over the South China Sea would rebound like a coiled spring.

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Paris and My Pham in Hanoi; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Robert Birsel)

U.S. Navy Officer faces espionage charges

HONOLULU (Dec. 3, 2008) Lt. Edward Lin, native to Taiwan, shares his personal stories about his journey to American citizenship to a group of 80 newly nationalized citizens

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. Navy officer with access to sensitive U.S. intelligence faces espionage charges over accusations he passed state secrets, possibly to China and Taiwan, a U.S. official told Reuters on Sunday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the suspect as Lieutenant Commander Edward Lin, who was born in Taiwan and later became a naturalized U.S. citizen, according a Navy profile article written about him in 2008.

A redacted Navy charge sheet said the suspect was assigned to the headquarters for the Navy’s Patrol and Reconnaissance Group, which oversees intelligence collection activities.

The charge sheet redacted out the name of the suspect and the Navy declined to provide details on his identity.

It accused him twice of communicating secret information and three times of attempting to do so to a representative of a foreign government “with intent or reason to believe it would be used to the advantage of a foreign nation.”

The document did not identify what foreign country or countries were involved.

The U.S. official said both China and Taiwan were possible but stressed the investigation was still going on.

The suspect was also accused of engaging in prostitution and adultery. He has been held in pre-trial confinement for the past eight months or so, the official added.

USNI News, which first reported Lin’s identity, said he spoke fluent Mandarin and managed the collection of electronic signals from the EP3-E Aries II signals intelligence aircraft.

The U.S. Navy profiled Lin in a 2008 article that focused on his naturalization to the United States, saying his family left Taiwan when he was 14 and stayed in different countries before coming to America.

“I always dreamt about coming to America, the ‘promised land’,” he said. “I grew up believing that all the roads in America lead to Disneyland.”

The Navy’s article can be seen here: http://1.usa.gov/1SIEJDe

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said he was not aware of the details of the case. He did not elaborate. China’s Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it had no information on the case. Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart, additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing and J.R. Wu in Taipei; Editing by Michael Perry)

China Condemns U.S. for Sailing Too Close to Man-Made Islands in South China Sea

The United States angered China on Tuesday by sailing a U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer 12-nautical-miles from their man-made islands in the disputed South China Sea.

A U.S. defense official told Reuters that this was the first in a series of exercises that will test China’s territorial claims. While tensions are rising, the actions of the U.S. are intended to keep the freedom of navigation in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

While the USS Lassen wasn’t met with any resistance, Chinese ships did follow the vessel throughout the South China Sea, and Chinese officials quickly and angrily responded.

“The actions of the U.S. warship have threatened China’s sovereignty and security interests, jeopardized the safety of personnel and facilities on the reefs, and damaged regional peace and stability,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website, according to NBC News.

The “U.S. side [should] think twice, not … take rash moves and stir up troubles,” China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned in a separate statement.

China has reclaimed approximately 2,000 acres of the three main locations in the Spratly Islands located in the South China Sea over the past 18 months. Officials believe that China is building airstrips with the capability of handling bombers. Other countries fighting with China over the territorial claims of the South China Sea include Brunei, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam. The U.S. has not taken any sides in this dispute.