The war of words between China and the US heated up on Tuesday with an American Admiral defending last week's US naval ship's foray near Chinese-made artificial islands in the area while Beijing blasted the move as a "blatant provocation".
"International seas and airspace belong to everyone and are not the dominion of any single nation," Admiral Harry Harris, head of the the US Pacific Command said speaking at the Stanford Centre at Peking University on Tuesday.
"Our military will continue to fly, sail, and operate whenever and wherever international law allows. The South China Sea, (SCS) is not -- and will not -- be an exception," he said referring to last week's USS Lassen guided missile destroyer which has sailed within 12 nautical miles of one of the land formations in the disputed which drew protests from China.
"I truly believe that these routine operations should never be construed as a threat to any nation. These operations serve to protect the rights, freedoms and lawful uses of the sea and airspace guaranteed to all nations under international law," he said.
But at the same time he advocated stronger military ties with China.
"Some pundits predict a coming clash between our nations. I do not ascribe to this pessimistic view," Harris said.
"While we certainly disagree on some topics -- the most public being China's claims in the South China Sea and our activities there -- there are many areas where we have common ground," he said.
Remarks by Harris, the first Japanese-American to achieve the rank of admiral, drew very sharp reaction from the Chinese foreign ministry which has termed US role in SCS as a drama written, directed and acted out by Washington.
"For me it is like watching a drama written, directed and acted all by somebody. The so call freedom of navigation in the SCS does not hold water at all," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing in the most scathing attack on US in recent times.
She said every year over hundred thousand ships from countries all round the world pass through safely through the SCS.
"I see there was no problem at all. Abut 15 million barrels of oil is shipped to East Asia through the Straits of Malacca and SCS there was no problem at all," she said.
Though there is special shipping lane for US naval vessels, they insist to take a detour on waters and islands and reefs which belongs to China to show their strengths in the pretext of freedom of navigation which is a "blatant provocation," she said.
"With its growing military presence and frequent military drills with allies the US keeps playing up the so called militarisation in the SCS and it demands that China must not deploy necessary facilities in its own territory. In essence it is an attempt to deprive China of right of self defence as a sovereign state," Hua said.
Conflict arose as China's claims all most all of SCS were challenged by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan which are backed by US.
The issue became more complex after a tribunal of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) admitted a Philippines petition last week over ruling China's objections.
Beijing boycotted the tribunal proceedings and declared its ruling null and void.
"Some specific country has been studying UNCLOS for several decades but yet to become party to it. However it keeps blaming others with the UNCLOS as a pretext," she said taking a dig at US which is not a signatory to the UN Convention.
Last week, China's navy chief Admiral Wu Shengli warned his US counterpart Admiral John Richardson during a video call that even a minor confrontation between their two militaries in the SCS could culminate into conflict.
Harris' trip to China is his first official visit to the country since he took command of the US' Pacific forces in May.
He would meet senior People's Liberation Army officials and also visit some Chinese military installations.
He stirred up criticism in China even before his visit by stating that that America should challenge Beijing's claim to territory in the SCS by patrolling close to artificial islands that it had built.
"I believe that we should exercise -- be allowed to exercise, freedom of navigation and flight, maritime and flight, in the South China Sea against those islands that are not islands," he told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee in September last.
"The South China Sea is front and centre in the tug-of-war between the majority of regional nations that want to maintain the status quo and China that wants to change it to suit its narrow self-interest," he said.
