Washington--The United States is weighing sending warships and surveillance aircraft near artificial islands built by China to challenge Beijing's territorial claims in the South China Sea, officials said Wednesday.
But the US officials acknowledge Beijing's massive land reclamation effort, dubbed by an American naval commander as China's "great wall of sand," may be difficult to stop.
The Pentagon is weighing a range of options, including sailing destroyers or other naval ships within 12 nautical miles of the man-made islands, as well as flying P-3 and P-8 surveillance planes overhead, two defense officials told AFP.
The maritime and air patrols would be designed "to demonstrate support for freedom of navigation" and "to reassure our allies," said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"We have never recognized these artificial islands as legitimate claims," the official said.
US officials increasingly believe Washington needs to send a clear signal about China's dredging activities around the Spratly Islands and other disputed territories, though they want to calibrate any military operation to avoid triggering a crisis.
Officials admitted China has been building at a rapid pace in recent years and that concerns expressed by the United States and regional governments so far have had little effect.
Pentagon officials last week revealed that China is building artificial islands on top of coral reefs at an unprecedented pace. The rapid construction comes to 2,000 acres (800 hectares), with 75 percent of the total just in the last five months.
At four reclamation sites, China has moved from dredging to infrastructure work that could include harbors for larger ships, communications systems and at least one airfield, a Defense Department report said.
"We are actively assessing the military implication of land reclamation and are committed to taking effective and appropriate action," David Shear, assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs, told senators Wednesday.
Building on submerged features did not qualify as a recognized territorial claim, he said.
"It is difficult to see how Chinese behavior in particular comports with international law," he said.
AFP
