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Beijing: Beijing has accused the United States of threatening its sovereignty in a "deliberate provocation" by sending a US Navy warship through disputed waters in the South China Sea, in a direct challenge to China's territorial claims.
It came hours after the USS Lassen, a guided-missile destroyer, sailed within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef, one of several artificial islands China has constructed in the disputed Spratlys archipelago.
China's defence ministry said it had monitored, followed, and issued warnings to the Lassen as it passed through early on Tuesday morning.
But despite the heightened risk of confrontation, a US defence official said the mission had been completed "without incident".
The manoeuvre comes after months of deliberation in Washington and is designed to uphold the principles of freedom of navigation in international waters, while underlining that the US rejects China's territorial claims around the reclaimed islands.
It is also designed to test a pledge made by President Xi Jinping during his visit to Washington last month that Beijing would not "militarise" the islands. The ship's path also reassures Washington's nervous allies that it would not allow Beijing to throw its weight around the region unchallenged. The US mission was welcomed by the Australian and Philippines governments.
While the artificial islands – built via a rapid programme of dredging and land reclamation which has accelerated in the past two years – will likely have limited military value, some are equipped with runways long enough to facilitate jet fighters and other military aircraft.
China's regime of island-building and increasing assertiveness in the region is seen as part of its long-term play to challenge the United States and its regional supremacy.
In a terse statement, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the Lassen entered the waters "illegally" and without the approval of the Chinese government, "threatening China's sovereignty and security interests".
"China will firmly react to this deliberate provocation," he added later at a regularly scheduled news conference.
American ambassador Max Baucus was called into China's foreign ministry on Tuesday evening, where deputy foreign minister Zhang Yesui delivered a "solemn representation and strong protest", according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Much of China's public statements on Tuesday repeated previous standard language around its assertion of rights and sovereignty over the South China Sea. But there is concern that President Xi Jinping, who has projected an image of a strongman leader and has struck a nationalistic tone in his calls for a "great rejuvenation" of the Chinese nation, may feel obliged to respond to US "provocations" firmly.
In Canberra, Defence Minister Marise Payne said that while Australia was not involved in the current US exercise in the South China Sea, it was "important to recognise that all states have a right under international law to freedom of navigation and freedom of overflight, including in the South China Sea".
"Australia strongly supports these rights," Ms Payne said in a statement, adding that approximately 60 per cent of Australia's exports pass through the South China Sea.
According to an unnamed official cited by Reuters, the Lassen was in the area for several hours, marking the start of a series of challenges to China's territorial claims, and would be accompanied by a US Navy P-8A surveillance plane and possibly a P-3 surveillance plane.
"This is something that will be a regular occurrence, not a one-off event," the official said, adding that patrols would follow in coming weeks which could also be conducted around features constructed by Vietnam and the Philippines in the Spratly Islands. "It's not something that's unique to China."
International maritime law allows nations to claim territory within a 12-nautical-mile radius surrounding natural island formations, but this does not extend to submerged features that have been artificially raised above sea level.
