Former police officer and mayor Abner Afuang, sets fire to a Chinese flag in protest against the recent reclamation activities by China in the contested Spratly islands in the S China Sea Thursday, April 23 in Manila, Philippines
China ordered a U.S. military plane away from islands it’s building in the South China Sea, CNN reported, in the latest example of the country’s efforts to assert sovereignty over the area.
The Chinese navy issued eight warnings Wednesday to a P8-A Poseidon conducting surveillance flights over the islands, according to the network, which was aboard the plane. A radio message received by the U.S. plane said: “This is Chinese navy. You are approaching our military alert zone. Leave immediately.” The P8 crew responded that the aircraft was flying through international airspace, the report said.
The incident illustrates growing tensions between the U.S. and China, which asserts the authority to build on what it claims is its sovereign territory and has reserved the right to establish an air defense identification zone over the area. The U.S. contends that ships and aircraft should have freedom of navigation in the region.
The USS Fort Worth met a Chinese vessel earlier this month while patrolling in waters around the Spratly Islands, Admiral Michelle Howard told reporters on Tuesday in Singapore. Stars and Stripes reported on May 13 the Chinese frigate Yancheng trailed the Fort Worth while it was in the area.
Since December, China has quadrupled to 2,000 acres its land reclamation in the Spratlys, an operation described by a U.S. admiral as a “great wall of sand.” The reclamation work has set off alarms that China seeks control of the surrounding South China Sea, which carries some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and is subject to competing claims by six governments.
The Pentagon allowed a TV crew on the flight to “raise awareness about the challenge posed by the islands and the growing U.S. response,” the report said. The aircraft flew at 15,000 feet at its lowest point. The U.S. is considering flying even closer surveillance missions, the report said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has asked the Pentagon to consider options for using extra land- and sea-based surveillance aircraft and naval vessels to underscore the freedom of navigation in the waters. Those may include expanding U.S. patrols in the sea, including into a 22 kilometer radius of reefs where China is building.
The CNN report identified the “former” Fiery Cross Reef, and described it as having an early warning radar, an airport tower and a runway long enough to handle any plane in the Chinese military.
“We were just challenged 30 minutes ago and the challenge came from the Chinese navy, and I’m highly confident it came from ashore, this facility here,” Capt. Mike Parker, commander of P8 and P3 surveillance aircraft fleet in Asia, told the network.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said May 13 that while China supports the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, that “freedom definitely does not mean that foreign military vessels and aircraft can enter one country’s territorial waters and airspace at will.” David Tweed, Bloomberg
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