China yesterday (January 5) rebuffed comments by a united states senator that the lack of United States action is allowing China to continue to pursue its territorial ambitions in the region.
Senator John McCain, Chairman of the influential U.S. Senate armed services committee, criticized the Obama administration for delaying further “freedom of navigation” patrols within 12 nautical miles of the islands built by China.
Vietnam said the plane landed on January 2. Chinese officials have repeatedly stressed that the new islands would be mostly for civilian use, such as coast guard activity and fishing research.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at the weekend that the test flight was intended to check whether the runway met civilian aviation standards and fell “completely within china’s sovereignty”.
“I think no county’s freedom of navigation and overflight in accordance with international law has ever been impaired. Otherwise, U.S. officials, senators or any people who question (it) can give some concrete examples of it and what date (it occurred), which ship and where their freedom of navigation was impaired,” Hua Chunying said.
China claims almost all of the south china sea, which is believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas, and through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year, and has been building up facilities on the islands it controls.
Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.
