A U.S. naval destroyer sailed early Tuesday within 12 nautical miles of an artificial island built by China in the South China Sea, a U.S. defense official said, in a direct challenge to China's territorial claims.
The USS Lassen, a guided-missile destroyer, was accompanied by Navy surveillance planes as it approached the Subi Reef in the Spratly Islands, the official said.
The mission "was completed without incident," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
MUST WATCH: [VIDEO] Obama: China cannot push its 'little neighbors around'
The decision to go ahead with the mission follows months of deliberation in Washington and is certain to anger China, which said last month it would "never allow any country" to violate its territorial waters and airspace around the islands.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had said earlier that Beijing was trying to verify whether the U.S. vessel had entered the 12-mile zone.
"If true, we advise the U.S. to think again, not to act blindly or make trouble out of nothing," the Foreign Ministry quoted him as saying.
The U.S. mission is also intended to test a pledge made by President Xi Jinping during his visit to Washington last month that Beijing would not militarize the islands, U.S. officials have said.
MUST READ: China's President Xi is 'so cute,' says world's creepiest propaganda video
Subi Reef, which lies close to the Philippines in the South China Sea, used to be submerged at high tide before China began a massive dredging project to turn it into an island. It is now big enough to potentially host an airstrip.
Satellite images also show what looks like a surveillance tower and multiple satellite antennas, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, part of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Under the international law of the sea, turning such features into artificial islands does not imply any rights to territorial waters around them, something the U.S. mission is designed to underline.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington said that the concept of freedom of navigation should not be used as an excuse for muscle-flexing and that the United States should "refrain from saying or doing anything provocative and act responsibly in maintaining peace and regional stability," Chinese state media reported.
"This should have been done a long time ago," said Bonnie Glaser, an expert on the Chinese military at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The Navy has wanted conduct such an operation for some time, but the Obama administration had prevented that until now, she said.
While the exercise would probably not stop China from further construction or militarization of air strips on the reefs, Glaser said that there were still good reasons to go ahead.
MUST READ: China's land reclamation in South China Sea grows - Pentagon report
"Our aim in any freedom of navigation operation is not aimed at that kind of objective. It is simply to sail through waters that are subject to the law of the sea," she said.
"Some parts of the administration believed this would make things even more difficult, that China would become even more obstreperous, more difficult to deal with," she said, "and others thought this wasn't something we should do before Xi Jinping came to Washington."
At the summit, President Barack Obama told Xi that the United States would operate, fly or sail anywhere that international law allows. On Monday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest referred questions on specific operations to the Pentagon but reiterated that commitment to freedom of navigation.
"This is a critically important principle, particularly in the South China Sea, because there are billions of dollars of commerce that flow through that region of the world every year, and maybe even more than that and ensuring the free flow of this commerce and that freedom of navigation of those vessels is protected is critically important to the global economy."
Additional patrols will follow in coming weeks, and could also be conducted around features that have been built up by Vietnam and the Philippines in the Spratlys, a U.S. defense official told the Reuters news agency.
"This is something that will be a regular occurrence, not a one-off event," the official said, also speaking on condition of anonymity. "It's not something that's unique to China."
At the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I., associate professor Andrew Erickson said the U.S action underscored its "commitment to maintaining an open global system with global commons that all are free to use to the maximum extent permitted by international law."
"As can be seen from the operation's peaceful, unimpeded nature, China and the U.S. share an interest in keeping the vital sea lanes of the South China Sea stable and open," he said.
China has built small islands on top of previously submerged reefs like Subi and is in the process of smoothing and reinforcing runways suitable for military aircraft. According to international law, experts said no country can claim more than a 500-meter safety zone around a previously submerged reef.
The USS Lassen, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, operates out of its home port in Yokosuka, Japan - headquarters for the U.S. 7th Fleet.
The Lassen has been deployed to the South China Sea since late May and has had several routine interactions at sea with Chinese naval vessels, according to U.S. Navy officials.
The Washington Post
Tue Oct 27 2015
U.S. President Barack Obama (R) stands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during an arrival ceremony at the White House in Washington, September 25 2015. REUTERS/JONATHAN ERNST
Kegiatan haram di KL: Lebih daripada seorang pegawai kanan polis dipercayai terlibat - Azam Baki
Lebih daripada seorang pegawai kanan Polis Diraja Malaysia dipercayai terlibat dalam aktiviti melindungi kegiatan haram di ibu negara, tegas Ketua Pesuruhjaya SPRM Tan Sri Azam Baki.
Tular titah lama Sultan Nazrin di luar konteks, Pejabat Dewan Negara Perak buat laporan polis
Pejabat Dewan Negara Perak membuat laporan polis berhubung penularan kenyataan berunsur perkauman yang memetik titah diraja Sultan Perak, Sultan Nazrin Shahdalam konteks yang salah.
Cristiano Ronaldo akui dia bukan lagi ‘pemain terbaik’ Portugal?
Bernardo Silva telah dinobatkan sebagai pemain terbaik Portugal walaupun Cristiano Ronaldo masih beraksi untuk negaranya.
Cuaca panas: Orang Asli hadkan aktiviti luar rumah, masuk hutan
Bahang cuaca panas menyebabkan masyarakat Orang Asli suku kaum Temiar di Pos Brooke terpaksa mengurangkan aktiviti di luar rumah dan masa bekerja di dalam hutan.
Kerajaan Persekutuan ambil alih projek LRT Pulau Pinang
Projek pembangunan LRT Laluan Mutiara Pulau Pinang akan diambil alih oleh Kerajaan Persekutuan tetapi dengan meletakkan syarat kepada Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang.
Pengarah syarikat dakwa pemilik RM500,000 beri keterangan esok - Ketua Polis Selangor
Pengarah syarikat yang mendakwa pemilik bagasi berisi wang RM500,000 yang ditemukan di tempat letak kereta dijangka hadir memberikan keterangan esok.
Bernas ceriakan Aidilfitri pesawah asnaf
Padiberas Nasional Berhad (BERNAS) menceriakan 45 asnaf dan komuniti pesawah sempena Aidilfitri tahun ini.
Inisiatif Gema Ramadan Menyantuni Penuh Ikhlas adalah sebagai inisiatif untuk menyumbang kepada masyarakat dengan menekankan fokus strategik ke atas impak yang lebih bermakna, melangkaui Tanggungjawab Sosial Korporat semata-mata.
Inisiatif Gema Ramadan Menyantuni Penuh Ikhlas adalah sebagai inisiatif untuk menyumbang kepada masyarakat dengan menekankan fokus strategik ke atas impak yang lebih bermakna, melangkaui Tanggungjawab Sosial Korporat semata-mata.
[TERKINI] Mahkamah Tinggi arah Isa dan Emir bayar RM3.31 juta
Mahkamah Tinggi Kuala Lumpur memerintahkan Tan Sri Isa Samad dan Datuk Mohd Emir Mavani Abdullah membayar lebih RM3.31 juta kepada FGV Holdings Berhad.
KJ akhirnya dapat isi PADU selepas identiti dicuri
Khairy Jamaluddin akhirnya berjaya mendaftar dalam sistem PADU selepas mendakwa akaunnya telah didaftarkan oleh individu yang tidak dikenali.
Aset rizab rasmi Malaysia AS$114.28 bilion akhir Februari 2024 - BNM
Aset rizab rasmi Malaysia berjumlah US$114.28 bilion pada akhir Februari 2024 manakala aset mata wang asing lain adalah US$202.69 juta (US$1=RM4.73), kata Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).