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Taiwan warns of increasing threat as Chinese warships conduct drill

A general view shows navy soldiers standing on China's first aircraft carrier "Liaoning" as it is berthed in a port in Dalian, northeast China's Liaoning province,

By J.R. Wu

TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan warned on Tuesday that “the threat of our enemies is growing day by day”, as Chinese warships led by the country’s sole aircraft carrier sailed towards the island province of Hainan through the South China Sea on a routine drill.

China has given few details of what the Soviet-built Liaoning aircraft carrier is up to, save that it is on a routine exercise. Taiwan has said the aircraft carrier skirted waters outside of its eastern air defense identification zone.

The carrier is expected to arrive at a Chinese military base on the southern Chinese island of Hainan late on Tuesday, Taiwan’s defense ministry said.

The drill comes amid renewed tension over Taiwan, which China claims as its own and says is ineligible for state-to-state relations, following U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s telephone call with the island’s president that upset Beijing.

“The threat of our enemies is growing day by day. We should always be maintaining our combat alertness,” Taiwan Defence Minister Feng Shih-kuan said. “We need to strengthen the training (of our soldiers) so that they can not only survive in battle but also destroy the enemy and accomplish the mission.”

Feng’s remarks were given in a speech Tuesday at a ministry event marking the promotion of senior military officers.

China’s air force conducted long-range drills this month above the East and South China Seas that rattled Japan and Taiwan. China said those exercises were also routine.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Neighbours Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.

The Pentagon did not directly comment on the latest drill but said that the United States recognizes lawful use of sea and airspace in accordance to international law.

“We continue to closely monitor developments in the region. We do not have specific comments on China’s recent naval activities, but we continue to observe a range of ongoing Chinese military activity in the region‎,” Pentagon spokesman Gary Ross told Reuters.

The Liaoning has taken part in previous exercises, including in the South China Sea, but China is years away from perfecting carrier operations similar to those the United States has practiced for decades.

Last December, the defense ministry confirmed China was building a second aircraft carrier but its launch date is unclear. The aircraft carrier program is a state secret.

Beijing could build multiple aircraft carriers over the next 15 years, the Pentagon said in a report last year.

China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong’s Communist forces won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists fled to the island.

Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan under its rule, by force if necessary.

(Reporting by J.R. Wu; Additional reporting by Tim Kelly in Tokyo; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Snowden continues contacts with Russian intel services

Edward Snowden speaks via video link during a conference at University of Buenos Aires Law School, Argentina,

By Mark Hosenball and Jonathan Landay

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden “has had and continues to have contact” with Russian intelligence services, according to newly declassified portions of a House Intelligence Committee report released on Thursday.

The Pentagon found 13 undisclosed “high risk” security issues caused by Snowden’s disclosure to media outlets of tens of thousands of the U.S. eavesdropping agency’s most sensitive documents, according to the new material.

If the Chinese or Russians obtained access to materials related to these issues, “American troops will be at greater risk in any future conflict,” the report said.

“The committee remains concerned that more than three years after the start of the unauthorized disclosures, NSA, and the IC (Intelligence Community) as a whole, have not done enough to minimize the risk of another massive unauthorized disclosure,” the report said.

Snowden lives in Moscow under an asylum deal that was made after his leaks of classified information in 2013 triggered an international furor over the reach of U.S. spy operations.

Snowden’s lawyer, Ben Wizner, declined to immediately comment to Reuters on the newly released material.

But in a Twitter post, Wizner called the newly declassified portions of the report “petulant nonsense.”

(Editing by Frances Kerry and Jeffrey Benkoe)

Taiwan loses another ally, says won’t help China ties

By J.R. Wu and Ben Blanchard

TAIPEI/BEIJING (Reuters) – Taiwan accused China on Wednesday of using Sao Tome and Principe’s financial woes to push its “one China” policy after the West African state ended ties with the self-ruled island, with Taiwan saying China’s action would not help relations across the Taiwan Strait.

China’s claim to Taiwan have shot back into the spotlight since U.S. President-elect Donald Trump broke diplomatic protocol and spoke with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen this month, angering Beijing.

Trump has also questioned the “one China” policy which the United States has followed since establishing relations with Beijing in 1979, under which the United States acknowledges that Taiwan is part of China.

The election of Tsai from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party this year infuriated Beijing, which suspects she wants to push for the island’s formal independence, though she says she wants to maintain peace with China.

Taiwan Foreign Minister David Lee said Taipei would not engage in “dollar diplomacy” after Sao Tome’s decision.

“We think the Beijing government should not use Sao Tome’s financing black hole … as an opportunity to push its ‘one China’ principle,” Lee told a news conference in Taipei on Wednesday.

“This behavior is not helpful to a smooth cross-Strait relationship.”

Tsai held emergency meetings with cabinet officials and security advisers on Wednesday, and told her ministers:

“Foreign diplomacy is not a zero-sum game,” according to her office spokesman, Alex Huang.

Tsai’s office said in a statement China’s use of Sao Tome’s financial woes to push its “one China” policy would harm stability across the Taiwan Strait.

“This is absolutely not beneficial to the long-term development of cross-Strait relations,” it said.

China says Taiwan has no right to diplomatic recognition as it is part of China, and the issue is an extremely sensitive one for Beijing.

In Beijing, China welcomed Sao Tome’s decision, without explicitly saying it had established formal relations with the former Portuguese colony or making any mention of a request for financial aid.

“We have noted the statement from the government of Sao Tome and Principe on the 20th to break so-called ‘diplomatic’ ties with Taiwan. China expresses appreciation of this, and welcomes Sao Tome back onto the correct path of the ‘one China’ principle,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying declined to comment when asked when the two countries may exchange ambassadors, and dismissed a question on how much China may have offered Sao Tome to switch ties as being “very imaginative”.

Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan at the end of a civil war in 1949 and Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.

In Africa, only Burkina Faso and Swaziland now maintain formal ties with Taiwan. President Tsai will visit Central American allies Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador next month.

“We now have 21 allies left. We must cherish them,” Lee said.

China and Taiwan had for years tried to poach each other’s allies, often dangling generous aid packages in front of developing nations.

But they began an unofficial diplomatic truce after signing a series of landmark trade and economic agreements in 2008 following the election of the China-friendly Ma Ying-jeou as Taiwan’s president.

Sao Tome and Principe’s tiny island economy is heavily dependent on cocoa exports but its position in the middle of the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea has raised interest in its potential as a possible oil and gas producer.

Diplomatic sources in Beijing have previously said Sao Tome was likely high on China’s list of countries to lure away from Taiwan.

In 2013, Sao Tome said China planned to open a trade mission to promote projects there, 16 years after it broke off relations over Sao Tome’s diplomatic recognition of Taiwan.

(Editing by Lincoln Feast, Robert Birsel)

China returns underwater drone, U.S. condemns “unlawful” seizure

The oceanographic survey ship, USNS Bowditch, is shown September 20, 2002, which deployed an underwater drone seized by a Chinese Navy warship in international waters in South China Sea,

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING, Dec 20 (Reuters) – China has returned a U.S. underwater drone taken by one of its naval vessels in the
disputed South China Sea last week after what it said were friendly talks with the United States, which reiterated its criticism of the “unlawful” seizure.

The taking of the unmanned underwater vehicle in international waters near the Philippines triggered a diplomatic protest and speculation about whether it would strengthen U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s hand as he seeks a tougher line with China.

A Chinese naval ship took the drone, which the Pentagon says uses unclassified, commercially available technology to collect oceanographic data, on Thursday about 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay in the Philippines.

China’s defence ministry said in a brief statement the drone had been given back to the United States on Tuesday.

“After friendly consultations between the Chinese and U.S. sides, the handover work for the U.S. underwater drone was smoothly completed in relevant waters in the South China Sea at midday,” the ministry said.

The defence ministry declined to give more details about the handover when contacted by Reuters.

The Pentagon said the vehicle had been handed over to the guided missile destroyer USS Mustin near where it had been “unlawfully seized”. It called on China to comply with international law and refrain from further efforts to impede lawful U.S. activities.

“The U.S. remains committed to upholding the accepted principles and norms of international law and freedom of navigation and overflight and will continue to fly, sail, and operate in the South China Sea wherever international law allows,” Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a statement.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying referred questions about the handover and other details of the case to the defence ministry.

“The handling of this incident shows that the Chinese and U.S. militaries have quite smooth communication channels. We think that this communication channel is beneficial to timely communication and the handling of sudden incidents and prevention of miscalculations and misunderstandings,” she said.

“As to what the U.S. defence department said, I have to verify it with the military. But I think what they said is
unreasonable as we have always said that for a long time the U.S. military has regularly sent ships and aircraft to carry out close up surveillance and military surveys in waters facing China, which threatens China’s sovereignty and security,” Hua told reporters.

“China is resolutely opposed to this and has always demanded the U.S. end these kinds of activities. I think this is the cause of this or similar incidents.”

The seizure has added to U.S. concern about China’s growing military presence and aggressive posture in the disputed South China Sea, including its militarization of maritime outposts.

China is deeply suspicious of any U.S. military activity in the resource-rich South China Sea, with state media and experts saying the use of the drone was likely part of U.S. surveillance efforts in the disputed waterway.

The U.S. Navy has about 130 such underwater drones, made by Teledyne Webb, each weighing about 60 kg (130 lb) and able to stay underwater for up to five months. They are used around the world to collect unclassified data about oceans, including temperature and depth.

It is not clear how many are used in the South China Sea.

(Editing by Paul Tait and Lincoln Feast)

China says discussing return of undersea drone with U.S. military

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) – The Chinese and U.S. militaries are having “unimpeded” talks about the return of U.S. underwater drone taken by a Chinese naval vessel in the South China Sea last week, China’s foreign ministry said on Monday.

The drone, known as an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), was taken on Thursday in waters off the coast of the Philippines, the first seizure of its kind in recent memory.

The Pentagon went public with its complaint about the incident and said on Saturday it had secured a deal to get the drone back. China’s defense ministry had earlier accused Washington of hyping up the issue.

“What I can tell you is that at present, China and the United States are using unimpeded military channels to appropriately handle this issue,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular briefing.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to take a more aggressive approach in dealing with China over its economic and military policies, jumped on the unusual seizure with a pair of provocative tweets over the weekend, accusing Beijing of stealing the equipment.

Asked about Trump’s comments, Hua said describing the drone as stolen was “completely incorrect”.

“The key is that China’s navy had a responsible and professional attitude to identify and ascertain this object,” she said. “If you discover or pick something up from the street you have to examine it and if somebody asks you for it you have to work out if it’s theirs before you can give it back.”

The drone, which the Pentagon said was operating lawfully was collecting data about the salinity, temperature and clarity of the water about 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay, off the Philippines.

The Philippines said the occurrence of the incident inside its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) was “very troubling”.

“Not only does it increase the likelihood of miscalculations that could lead to open confrontation very near the Philippine mainland but the commission of activities other than innocent passage which impinge upon the right of the Philippines over the resources in its EEZ are violations of the Philippines rights over its EEZ,” Defence Minister Delfin Lorenzana said in a statement.

DEEP SUSPICIONS

China is deeply suspicious of any U.S. military activities in the resource-rich South China Sea, with state media and experts saying the use of the drone was likely part of U.S. surveillance efforts in the disputed waterway.

The overseas edition of the ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily said in a commentary on Monday the USNS Bowditch, which was operating the drone, was a “serial offender” when it came to spying operations against China.

“The downplaying of the actions of the drone cannot cover up the real intentions in the background,” it said. “This drone which floated to the surface in the South China Sea is the tip of the iceberg of U.S. military strategy, including toward China.”

The USNS Bowditch is an “infamous” military reconnaissance ship that has been surveying China’s coastal waters since 2002, said Ma Gang, a professor at the People’s Liberation Army National Defence University, told the official China Daily.

“Oceanic data is crucial for ship formations, submarine routes and battle planning,” Ma said. “Therefore, it is normal for the Chinese Navy to be suspicious of Bowditch’s activities given past experience.”

According to Chinese state media, the same ship was involved in incidents in 2001 and 2002 when it was shadowed by Chinese navy ships while operating in the Yellow Sea. Chinese media say it has also operated in the sensitive Taiwan Straits.

Ni Lexiong, a naval expert, Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, told Reuters he believed the Chinese navy probably had orders to take the drone.

But Ni said this is a very different incident from the 2001 intercept of a U.S. spy plane by a Chinese fighter jet that resulted in a collision that killed the Chinese pilot and forced the American plane to make an emergency landing at a base on Hainan.

“This is a much smaller incident, it won’t affect the overall picture of China-U.S. relations,” he said, adding that he did not expect China to seek an apology from the U.S.

The 24 U.S. air crew members were held for 11 days before being released, souring U.S.-Chinese relations in the early days of President George W. Bush’s first administration.

(Additional reporting by Manuel Mogato in Manila; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

China seizes U.S. underwater drone in South China Sea

The USNS Bowditch, an oceanographic survey ship, is seen in this undated U.S. Navy

By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Chinese warship has seized an underwater drone deployed by a U.S. oceanographic vessel in the South China Sea, triggering a formal diplomatic protest and a demand for its return, U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday.

The drone was taken on Dec. 15, the first seizure of its kind in recent memory, about 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay off the Philippines just as the USNS Bowditch was about to retrieve the unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), officials said.

“The UUV was lawfully conducting a military survey in the waters of the South China Sea,” one official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“It’s a sovereign immune vessel, clearly marked in English not to be removed from the water – that it was U.S. property,” the official said.

The Pentagon confirmed the incident at a news briefing and said the drone used commercially available technology and sold for about $150,000.

Still, the Pentagon viewed China’s seizure seriously since it had effectively taken U.S. military property.

“It is ours, and it is clearly marked as ours and we would like it back. And we would like this not to happen again,” Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis said.

Senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the seizure “a remarkably brazen violation of international law.”

U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Maybus cited a “growing China” as one of the reasons that the Navy needed to expand its fleet to 355 ships, including 12 carriers, 104 large surface combatants, 38 amphibious ships and 66 submarines.

The seizure will add to concerns about China’s increased military presence and aggressive posture in the disputed South China Sea, including its militarization of maritime outposts.

It coincided with sabre-rattling from Chinese state media and some in its military establishment after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump cast doubt on whether Washington would stick to its nearly four-decades-old policy of recognizing that Taiwan is part of “one China.”

A U.S. research group this week said new satellite imagery indicated China has installed weapons, including anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems, on all seven artificial islands it has built in the South China Sea.

Mira Rapp-Hooper, a senior fellow in the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, said China would have a hard time explaining its actions.

“This move, if accurately reported, is highly escalatory, and it is hard to see how Beijing will justify it legally,” Rapp-Hooper said.

SNATCHED AWAY

The drone was part of an unclassified program to collect oceanographic data including salinity, temperature and clarity of the water, the U.S. official added. The data can help inform U.S. military sonar data since such factors affect sound.

The USNS Bowditch, a U.S. Navy ship crewed by civilians that carries out oceanographic work, had already retrieved one of two of its drones, known as ocean gliders, when a Chinese Navy Dalang 3 class vessel took the second one.

Officials said the Bowditch was only 500 meters (yards) from the drone and, observing the Chinese intercede, used bridge-to-bridge communications to demand it be returned.

The Chinese ship acknowledged the communication but did not respond to the Bowditch’s demands, the Pentagon’s Davis said.

“The only thing they said after they were sailing off into the distance was: “we are returning to normal operations,” Davis said.

The United States issued the formal demarche, as such protests are known, through diplomatic channels and included a demand that China immediately return the drone. The Chinese acknowledged it but have not responded, officials said.

The seizure happened a day after China’s ambassador to the United States said Beijing would never bargain with Washington over issues involving its national sovereignty or territorial integrity.

“Basic norms of international relations should be observed, not ignored, certainly not be seen as something you can trade off,” Ambassador Cui Tiankai, speaking to executives of top U.S. companies, said on Wednesday.

He did not specifically mention Taiwan, or Trump’s decision to accept a telephone call from Taiwan’s president on Dec. 2.

The call was the first such contact with Taiwan by a U.S. president-elect or president since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, acknowledging Taiwan as part of “one China.”

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; editing by James Dalgleish and Grant McCool)

China wants 23 northern cities put on red alert for smog

Policemen wear protective masks at the Tiananmen Square on an extremely polluted day as hazardous, choking smog continues to blanket Beijing, China

BEIJING (Reuters) – Environmental authorities in China have advised 23 northern cities to issue red alerts, the highest possible air pollution warning, on Friday evening, against the “worst” smog the country has experienced since autumn, state media said.

China issued its first ever red alert for smog in Beijing, the capital, last December, after adopting a color-graded warning system in a crackdown on environmental degradation left by decades of breakneck economic growth.

Officials in Beijing issued a red alert on Thursday after the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) warned of a smog build-up across China’s north, saying the alert was expected to run until Dec. 21.

The ministry has also advised 22 more cities reeling under pollution to issue the red alert warning, the official China Daily said on Friday.

Nine cities, including Jinan in the province of Shangdong were advised to issue the lower-status orange alert, Liu Bingjing, the ministry’s head of air quality management, told the paper.

The notification will be the third joint warning by city governments this month, Liu added.

Regular episodes of smog blanketing northern China this year stem from a combination of local emissions, unfavorable weather and pollutants wafted in from elsewhere, Bai Qiuyong, head of China’s Environmental Monitoring Center, told the paper.

Environmental authorities in Hebei province, which borders capital city Beijing, asked for a level one emergency response from major cities in the region to begin from Friday, according to a post on its official microblog account on China’s Twitter-like Weibo service late on Thursday.

The order requires the large number of heavy polluting industries in these cities, including Tangshan, China’s steel capital, to cut back or halt production until Wednesday.

A chimney of a power plant is pictured among smog as a red alert for air pollution is issued in Beijing, China, December 16, 2016. REUTERS/Stringer

Environmental group Greenpeace urged the government in a statement on Friday to “strictly punish” factories and plants in Hebei that flout regulations, as it said they have often done during past alerts.

Red alerts are issued in Beijing when the air quality index, a measure of pollutants, is forecast to break 200 for more than four days in succession, surpass 300 for more than two days or overshoot 500 for at least 24 hours.

At each level, the colour-graded warning system prescribes advisories for schools, hospitals and businesses, as well as possible curbs on traffic and construction.

Thresholds for the issue of alerts vary among cities, as do the cautionary measures urged on local residents and businesses at each stage.

Residents of smaller cities near Beijing have previously complained that local government bodies failed to issue warnings when pollution was just as severe as in the capital.

(Reporting by Christian Shepherd; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Tom Hogue)

China takes action on thousands of websites for ‘harmful’, obscene content

Customers use computers at an internet cafe in Hefei, Anhui province

BEIJING (Reuters) – China has shut down or “dealt with” thousands of websites for sharing “harmful” erotic or obscene content since April, the state’s office for combating pornography and illegal publications announced on Thursday.

The office said 2,500 websites were prosecuted or shut down and more than 3 million “harmful” posts were deleted in eight months up to December during a drive to “purify” the internet in China and protect youth, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The government has tightening its grip on Chinese cyberspace in recent months, in particular placing new restrictions on the fast-growing live-streaming industry.

The state has a zero-tolerance approach to what it considers lewd, smutty or illegal content and has in past crackdowns removed tens of thousands of websites in a single year.

Two popular news websites were also punished for spreading “illegal” content, Xinhua reported. It did not elaborate.

Aside from live-streaming, the office worked alongside the Ministry of Public Security, the ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Cyberspace Administration of China to target cloud storage, chat apps and “vulgar” videos.

Social media platforms have become a key tool for spreading illegal content and mobile pay platforms including Alipay and WeChat pay have allowed individuals to make big profits, the office said.

(Reporting by Christian Shepherd; Editing by Robert Birsel)

China installs weapons systems on artificial islands

A satellite image shows what CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative says appears to be anti-aircraft guns and what are likely to be close-in weapons systems (CIWS) on the artificial island Subi Reef in the South China Sea in this image released on December

By David Brunnstrom

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – China appears to have installed weapons, including anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems, on all seven of the artificial islands it has built in the South China Sea, a U.S. think tank reported on Wednesday, citing new satellite imagery.

The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) said its findings come despite statements by the Chinese leadership that Beijing has no intention to militarize the islands in the strategic trade route, where territory is claimed by several countries.

AMTI said it had been tracking construction of hexagonal structures on Fiery Cross, Mischief and Subi reefs in the Spratly Islands since June and July. China has already built military length airstrips on these islands.

“It now seems that these structures are an evolution of point-defense fortifications already constructed at China’s smaller facilities on Gaven, Hughes, Johnson, and Cuarteron reefs,” it said citing images taken in November and made available to Reuters.

“This model has gone through another evolution at (the) much-larger bases on Fiery Cross, Subi and Mischief reefs.”

Satellite images of Hughes and Gaven reefs showed what appeared to be anti-aircraft guns and what were likely to be close-in weapons systems (CIWS) to protect against cruise missile strikes, it said.

Images from Fiery Cross Reef showed towers that likely contained targeting radar, it said.

AMTI said covers had been installed on the towers at Fiery Cross, but the size of platforms on these and the covers suggested they concealed defense systems similar to those at the smaller reefs.

“These gun and probable CIWS emplacements show that Beijing is serious about defense of its artificial islands in case of an armed contingency in the South China Sea,” it said.

“Among other things, they would be the last line of defense against cruise missiles launched by the United States or others against these soon-to-be-operational air bases.”

AMTI director Greg Poling said AMTI had spent months trying to figure out what the purposes of the structures was.

“This is the first time that we’re confident in saying they are anti-aircraft and CIWS emplacements. We did not know that they had systems this big and this advanced there,” he told Reuters.

“This is militarization. The Chinese can argue that it’s only for defensive purposes, but if you are building giant anti-aircraft gun and CIWS emplacements, it means that you are prepping for a future conflict.

“They keep saying they are not militarizing, but they could deploy fighter jets and surface-to-air missiles tomorrow if they wanted to,” he said. “Now they have all the infrastructure in place for these interlocking rings of defense and power projection.”The report said the installations would likely back up a defensive umbrella provided by a future deployment of mobile surface-to-air missile (SAM) platforms like the HQ-9 system deployed to Woody Island in the Paracel Islands, farther to the north in the South China Sea.

It forecast that such a deployment could happen “at any time,” noting a recent Fox News report that components for SAM systems have been spotted at the southeastern Chinese port of Jieyang, possibly destined for the South China Sea.

China has said military construction on the islands will be limited to necessary defensive requirements.

The United States has criticized what it called China’s militarization of its maritime outposts and stressed the need for freedom of navigation by conducting periodic air and naval patrols near them that have angered Beijing.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has also criticized Chinese behavior in the South China Sea while signaling he may adopt a tougher approach to China’s assertive behavior in the region than President Barack Obama.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

U.S. ready to confront Beijing on South China Sea: admiral

Guided missile destroyer in South China Sea

By Colin Packham

SYDNEY (Reuters) – The United States is ready to confront China should it continue its overreaching maritime claims in the South China Sea, the head of the U.S. Pacific fleet said on Wednesday, comments that threaten to escalate tensions between the two global rivals.

China claims most of the resource-rich South China Sea through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.

The United States has called on China to respect the findings of the arbitration court in The Hague earlier this year which invalidated its vast territorial claims in the strategic waterway.

But Beijing continues to act in an “aggressive” manner, to which the United States stands ready to respond, Admiral Harry Harris, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, said in a speech in Sydney.

“We will not allow a shared domain to be closed down unilaterally no matter how many bases are built on artificial features in the South China Sea,” he said. “We will cooperate when we can but we will be ready to confront when we must.”

The comments threaten to stoke tensions between the United States and China, already heightened by President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to accept a telephone call from Taiwan’s president on Dec. 2 that prompted a diplomatic protest from Beijing.

Asked about Harris’s remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the situation in the South China Sea was currently stable, thanks to the hard work of China and others in the region.

“We hope the United States can abide by its promises on not taking sides on the sovereignty dispute in the South China Sea, respect the efforts of countries in the region to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea region and do more to promote peace and stability there,” he told a daily news briefing.

The United States estimates Beijing has added more than 3,200 acres (1,300 hectares) of land on seven features in the South China Sea over the past three years, building runways, ports, aircraft hangars and communications equipment.

In response, the United States has conducted a series of freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea, the latest of which came in October.

The patrols have angered Beijing, with a senior Chinese official in July warning the practice may end in “disaster”.

Harris said it was a decision for the Australian government whether the U.S. ally should undertake its own freedom-of-navigation operations, but said the United States would continue with the practice.

“The U.S. fought its first war following our independence to ensure freedom of navigation,” said Harris. “This is an enduring principle and one of the reasons our forces stand ready to fight tonight.”

(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Jacqueline Wong)

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