Great news! USA and their allies managed to circle jerk themselves into thinking their ships will go home in one piece after trying to enter our territorial sea. I would prefer they came all at once so we can expand the war to their homeland with our DF-26. Australia would look great as a Chinese autonomous region. Before, we lacked a good causus belli against them. Now they gave us a gift. Why buy natural resources from Aussies when we can just conquer them? The land can solve our over-population problem too. By comparison, sure we want to beat down Japan but their volcanic island is not so appealing.
South China Sea: US briefs Asian allies on plans for naval patrols
South China Sea: US briefs Asian allies on plans for naval patrols
Date: October 13 2015
Jane Perlez and Javier C. Hernandez
Beijing: The United States has been briefing its allies in Asia on plans to conduct "freedom of navigation" naval patrols near artificial islands built by China in the disputed South China Sea, a move that could escalate tensions with Beijing after President Xi Jinping's recent visit to Washington, US and Asian officials have said.
The patrols, which would come within 12 nautical miles of at least one of the islands, are intended to challenge China's efforts to claim large parts of the strategic waterway by enlarging rocks and submerged reefs into islands big enough for military airstrips, radar equipment and lodging for soldiers, the officials said.
Although China claims much of the South China Sea as sovereign territory, the 12-mile zone around the new islands is particularly delicate because international law says such artificial islands do not have sovereign rights up to the 12-mile limit.
The US has refrained from venturing that close to Chinese-occupied islands in the South China Sea since at least 2012. In May, a US Navy P8-A Poseidon aircraft, with a CNN correspondent on board, flew near three of China's five artificial islands but did not go within their 12-mile territorial zones. The Americans were warned eight times to leave the area by Chinese navy radio operators.
Officials in the Philippines said they had been told of the decision on the planned patrols in the past several days, and Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, chairman of the national defence and security committee, said on Monday that he welcomed the policy shift.
US Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter and Secretary of State John Kerry were scheduled to meet their counterparts from Australia, one of the closest US allies, on Monday and Tuesday in Boston, where the patrols were to be discussed.
The head of the US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris jnr, an outspoken proponent of freedom of navigation patrols whom the White House asked several months ago to offer options for how the US should respond to the Chinese actions in the South China Sea, was also scheduled to attend the meetings.
The senior adviser on China at the National Security Council, Daniel Kritenbrink, told a gathering of US analysts of the region at a meeting in Washington after Mr Xi left the US that the White House had decided to proceed with the patrols close to the artificial islands, according to a participant who requested anonymity to discuss a closed-door briefing.
The White House and the Pentagon, which had been pushing for the patrols, were now on the same page, Mr Kritenbrink said, according to the participant.
Mr Kritenbrink did not specify when the patrols would take place, but he suggested that they had been delayed so as not to disrupt Mr Xi's visit, the participant said.
The Obama administration and America's allies in Asia have debated at length how best to respond to China's moves in the South China Sea, with some urging such patrols to push back against Beijing and others fearful that the Chinese might use the patrols as justification for some further military build-up.
The Chinese have indicated that they will respond to US warships entering the 12-mile territorial waters around the artificial islands, essentially saying they could not ignore them.
"There is no way for us to condone infringement of China's territorial sea and airspace by any country under the pretext of maintaining the freedom of navigation and overflight," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday. China was "severely concerned" about reports that the US planned patrols around the artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago, the ministry's spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said. Five other governments also make territorial claims in those waters.
During a news conference with President Barack Obama at the White House, Mr Xi said China had no intention of militarising islands in the South China Sea. But exactly what Mr Xi meant was unclear, US officials said, because he had not said anything like that in the private meetings with Mr Obama and his senior aides.
One purpose of the patrols would be to test Mr Xi's statement, a US military official said.
At the news conference with Mr Xi, Mr Obama emphasised the importance of freedom of navigation, saying, "the United States will continue to sail, fly and operate anywhere that international law allows".
The Assistant Secretary of Defence for Asia, David Shear, recently told Congress that the US had conducted freedom of navigation patrols in the past but had not gone inside the 12-mile territorial waters of islands claimed by China since 2012. Mr Shear did not indicate why.
The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea recognises 12-mile territorial limits on naturally formed islands but does not recognise such limits on submerged reefs that have been built by land reclamation into above-the-waterline islands.
The Chinese have recently built five such islands in the Spratly archipelago. On Fiery Cross Reef, they have completed a 3000-metre runway capable of accommodating fighter jets.
New Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull would be less inclined to support the patrols than his more hawkish predecessor, Tony Abbott, Hugh White, a defence analyst, said. Mr Turnbull called China's island-building "counterproductive" before he took office last month, but he is likely to be cautious about confronting China, Mr White said.
In Manila, Senator Trillanes said that the patrols should move ahead.
"It can break the stalemate," he said in a telephone interview. "It's quite risky, but we need to know right now to what extent China is willing to go in order to defend these newly created islands."
Senator Trillanes said he was not concerned that such a move might increase the likelihood of conflict in the region.
"The United States has done the math, and they wouldn't do this if tensions would escalate beyond what they would expect," he said.
Albert del Rosario, the Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs, said that sending US ships within 12 miles of the islands would help maintain stability in the region.
"Failure to challenge false claims of sovereignty would undermine this order and lead China to the false conclusion that its claims are accepted as a fait accompli," Mr del Rosario said in a statement.
But other countries have seemed less receptive to the idea of aggressive action by the Americans, worried it might inflame tensions in the region.
In an interview in August, Ng Eng Hen, the Singaporean Defence Minister, said the US had a right to protect its interests in the region. But when asked whether it should patrol close to the shores of the islands built by China, he said: "We urge caution on all sides. It does no good for the region if there are incidents."
The US has several options as to what kind of ships to send on the patrols, and the type of vessel will indicate how big a statement it wants to make, James Hardy, the Asia-Pacific editor of
IHS Jane's Defence Weekly, said.
The minimum option would be to send a littoral combat ship that works close to shore and has been used in the past for such patrols, Hardy said. The US could also send an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer accompanied by a couple of smaller ships, thus sending a firmer message, he said.
The Chinese would also have several choices of how to respond, Hardy said. They could buzz US ships with aircraft or helicopters or target them with radars as they have Japanese vessels in the East China Sea, he said. Other options would include deploying Coast Guard vessels to shadow the US Navy ships or using fishing vessels to get in the way of the patrols.
A U.S. official confirmed Sunday that a decision had been made to conduct such patrols but said it was unclear when that might happen or where exactly. "It's just a matter of time when it happens," the official said. 
