Chinese Vice
Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui summoned U.S. Ambassador to China Max
Baucus on Tuesday, lodging "serious representations" and
expressing "strong discontent" over a U.S. warship patrol
in waters near China's Nansha Islands in the South China Sea. "This
action by the United States threatens China's sovereignty and
security interests and endangers the safety of personnel and
facilities on the reef, which is a serious provocation," Zhang
said.
Earlier on
Tuesday, USS Lassen entered waters near Zhubi Reef without the
permission of the Chinese government.
Zhang noted
that it had done so regardless of China's earlier dissuasion. China
is "strongly discontented with and firmly against" the
move, he said. The vice foreign minister reiterated China's claim of
sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and its adjacent waters, on the
basis that China discovered, named and developed them. "The
Chinese government will resolutely safeguard territorial sovereignty
and legal sea interests, and China will do whatever necessary to
oppose deliberate provocation from any country," he warned.
Denying that
China's activity in the South China Sea will restrict freedom of
navigation and overflight in accordance with international law, Zhang
said China will nevertheless oppose any country infringing upon its
sovereignty and security in the name of the freedom. "There has
been and will be no obstruction to navigation and overflight freedom
in the South China Sea," he said, labeling the U.S. move "a
show of force that is very likely to trigger an accident, threatening
the rights of navigation and overflight shared by all countries, and
harming peace and stability in the South China Sea." The United
States should remember its commitment that it would take no position
on territorial disputes, Zhang added.
On Tuesday
evening, China's Ministry of National Defense also criticized the USS
Lassen's foray as likely to "seriously harm mutual trust"
between the two armed forces.
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