US urges other countries to challenge China over sea claims
The United States has called on Australia and other countries to follow Washington’s lead and create a challenge for China in the South China Sea's territorial dispute.
Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin, the commander of the US Navy's Seventh Fleet, said Monday that countries should conduct "freedom-of-navigation" naval operations within 12 nautical miles of contested islands in the South China Sea.
The senior US naval officer, who is in Australia for high-level talks with defense leaders there, earlier said he was wary of the situation in the South China Sea being painted as a battle between the United States and China.
Beijing has already been angered by air and sea patrols the United States has conducted near the disputed islands. Those have included one by two B-52 strategic bombers in November and by a US Navy destroyer that sailed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island in the Paracels group last month.
Aucoin told reporters it would be "valuable" if Australia and others sent warships to conduct similar operations within 12 nautical miles of disputed territories.
"What we're trying to ensure is that all countries, no matter size or strength, can pursue their interests based on the law of the sea and not have that endangered by some of these actions," he said.
"It's up to those countries, but I think it's in our best interests to make sure that those sea lines remain open, I'll leave it at that," the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year and which is believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas.
Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.
Tensions between China and its neighbors have risen further since Taiwanese and US officials said last week Beijing had placed surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island, part of the Paracels archipelago it controls.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull last week urged claimants to refrain from island-building and militarization in the South China Sea.
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