U.S. Navy Reportedly Plans To Conduct More Patrols Quarterly Within 12-Nautical-Mile Territorial Boundaries In South China Sea
China branded the recent entry of USS Lassen near the disputed islands of the country as "illegal." Regardless of the accusation, the US Navy reportedly plans to continue conducting patrols in South China Sea.
Reuters reported Nov. 3 that the US Navy plans to perform patrols within the 12-nautical-mile territorial boundaries claim by China about twice or more every quarter.
"It's to demonstrate that we will uphold the principle of freedom of navigation," said US Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes. "We're going to come down to about twice a quarter or a little more than that."
Rhodes went on, "That's the right amount to make it regular but not a constant poke in the eye. It meets the intent to regularly exercise our rights under international law and remind the Chinese and others about our view."
According to reports, China's naval commander reportedly warned his US counterpart that the recent incident could start war in the South China Sea if the US did not impede its "provocative acts" near the disputed islands.
Meanwhile, US Pacific Command Head Harry B. Harris Jr. said on Tuesday that the US Navy will continue to perform freedom of navigation patrols just like what they did near China's disputed islands.
We've been conducting freedom of navigation operations all over the world for decades, so no one should be surprised by them," said Harris, as noted by The New York Times. "The South China Sea is not, and will not, be an exception."
He added that the US Navy has been conducting such patrol around the world "while avoiding military conflict and that remains our goal."
On the other hand, US Vice Admiral John Aquilino said that they will continue to conduct such operations. However, he did disclose about when the next patrols will be performed.
"We do operations like that all the time around the world," Aquilino said. "That will continue for us. We'll just keep going.
