WASHINGTON – The Obama administration came under fire in the US Senate for not asserting its right to operate within 12 miles of artificial islands created by China in the South China Sea.
“This is a dangerous mistake that grants de facto recognition of China’s man-made sovereignty claims,” Republican chairman Sen. John McCain said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday.
“And these restrictions have continued even after China sent its own naval vessels within 12 nautical miles of the Aleutian islands as President Obama concluded his recent visit to Alaska,” McCain said.
Pentagon officials said Chinese navy ships entered within 12 miles of the Alaska coastline under the maritime rule of innocent passage while President Barack Obama was there on Sept. 2.
China has come under increasing criticism in the weeks leading to President Xi Jinping’s state visit here for its unrestrained reclamation work in disputed areas of the sea, including the West Philippine Sea, and the militarization of these areas.
The White House said Xi’s visit on Sept. 25 will give both leaders an opportunity to expand US-China cooperation on a range of global, regional and bilateral issues of mutual interest while also enabling them to address areas of disagreement constructively.
At Thursday’s Senate hearing, Republican senators in particular complained Washington’s South China Sea policy is confusing because administration officials do not follow up on their resolve.
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has said “turning underwater rock into an airfield simply does not afford the rights of sovereignty or permit restrictions on international air or maritime transit,” yet the US military has not operated within 12 miles of these features.
Asked why the US has not breached the 12-mile limit to send China a message, Adm. Harry Harris Jr., head of the US Pacific Command and David Shear, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, could offer no satisfactory answer at the hearing.
However, Harris said this was an option he was ready to execute whenever ordered.
McCain in his opening statement said China has reclaimed nearly 3,000 acres of land in the South China Sea, more than all other claimants combined and at an unprecedented pace.
“What’s more, China is rapidly militarizing this reclaimed land, building garrisons, harbors, intelligence and surveillance infrastructure and at least three airstrips that could support military aircraft,” he said.
“There is a gap between our words and our actions,” McCain said. “The US must be more assertive.”
He said the United States must uphold the principle of freedom of the seas for commercial and military purposes, on, under and below the water and the best sign of that commitment would be to conduct freedom of navigation operations within 12 nautical miles of China’s reclaimed islands in the South China Sea.
Harris reaffirmed the United States does not take sides on issues of sovereignty with respect to territorial disputes, “but we do insist that all maritime claims be derived from naturally-formed land features in accordance with customary international law, as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention.”
China has overlapping claims with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei in the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year.
All the speakers at the hearing lauded the Philippines for bringing its case against China before the UN arbitral tribunal in The Hague.
Analysts here believe even though China has refused to participate in the case, a ruling against it by the tribunal would give Beijing the equivalent of a ‘black eye’ in the court of international opinion.
Shear in his statement said China’s large-scale land reclamation on disputed features in the South China Sea over the past two years has brought concerns about regional stability into sharper focus.