China outraged over ‘serious U.S. military provocation’

As is China’s usual practice, the Foreign Ministry took a more diplomatic tone, saying the situation was stable.

China insists it has sovereignty over virtually all of the resource rich sea, conflicting with the claims of several neighboring nations, and USA activity in the area has provoked Beijing’s ire several times in recent months.

With China keeps building artificial islands in the regions, while claiming a region within 12-mile nautical miles as the territory of each island and the neighbors of China turning to the U.S. for help, the tension in the regions shows no sign of abating.

Critics in the USA say freedom of navigation operations around the man-made islands appear to contradict Washington’s assertions that they have no right to territorial waters in the first place.

Navy Cmdr. Bill Urban, a Defense Department spokesman, said B-52 bombers routinely conduct training missions throughout the area.

“These missions are created to maintain readiness and demonstrate our commitment to fly, sail, and operate anywhere allowed under global law”, said Urban. Madhav countered and said the Indian Ocean did not belong only to India, but was shared by other countries of the world and similar is the case with the South China Sea.

The escalation of us provocations in the South China Sea will compel China to respond with more countermeasures, including military ones, and thus trigger an undesirable circle of provocation and response between the two countries in the waters. It also reiterated that it would do whatever is necessary to protect China’s sovereignty. Such actions have severely threatened the safety of Chinese personnel and facilities as well as peace and stability of the region, it said.

Yet, considering the us guided missile destroyer USS Lassen illegally entered waters near Zhubi Reef, part of China’s Nansha Islands, on Oct 28, on what the USA disingenuously called a “freedom of navigation” mission, it is only natural that many Chinese do not feel convinced by the Pentagon’s explanation.

India’s trilateral naval exercise with Japan and the United States, named “Malabar”, should not destabilise China’s maritime neighbourhood, said China’s Ambassador to India Le Yucheng to The Hindu on Saturday.

Taiwan as part of its territory, demanded the deal be scrapped to avoid harming relations across the Taiwan Strait and between China and the U.S.

On Wednesday, Beijing filed a formal diplomatic complaint and its Foreign Ministry said it would take “necessary measures, including the imposition of sanctions against companies participating in the arms sale to Taiwan”.

The main contractor behind the weaponry is Raytheon. China is urging the U.S.to employ measures to prevent these sorts of incidents from happening again.