US destroyer sails within 12 miles of China-built isles

WASHINGTON  (Dow Jones) -- A U.S. Navy destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands claimed by China, in a direct challenge to Beijing that raises the stakes in an expanding, multination territorial dispute.

Guided missile destroyer USS Lassen © AP

An American defense official confirmed Monday that the U.S. Navy ship navigated through the waters around at least one of the land masses to which China lays claim within the Spratly chain of islands in the South China Sea, crossing an area that China maintains is part of its sovereign territory.

 International convention allows countries to claim territorial waters within 12 nautical miles of their coastal territory, but the U.S. and many other countries don't recognize China's claims to almost all of the South China Sea. Thus U.S. officials labeledMonday's operation a "freedom of navigation" exercise. 

   Several U.S. defense officials said the navigation through the islands wasn't a one-time operation, and that the U.S. Navy would continue to sail through waters claimed by Beijing.

   China's foreign ministry didn't immediately respond to a request to comment but Beijing has often said that it has "undisputable sovereignty" over all the islands of the South China Sea and their adjacent waters. It says the artificial islands it has been building will be used for civilian activities, such as weather monitoring and search and rescue, as well as for military purposes.

   While the U.S. has long said it doesn't take sides in the territorial dispute over the Spratlys, the American ship's passage through the area is significant as a signal of Washington's view that some of China's artificial islands have no right to territorial waters, countering Beijing's claims to all the islands and their adjacent waters.

   President Barack Obama has pledged to uphold the right of American vessels to travel through international waters despite what the U.S. sees as unfounded claims by other countries, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday.

   "This is a critically important principle, particularly in the South China Sea, because there are billions of dollars of commerce that flow through that region of the world every year, and maybe even more than that," Mr. Earnest said.

   Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who has publicly scolded Beijing for its island-building campaign, has been blunt on the issue, saying the U.S. would sail its ships wherever and whenever it wants within international waters. Senior U.S. military officials, including Adm. Harry Harris, the head of U.S. Pacific Command, have urged the U.S. to proceed with the operation.

   "I agree that the South China Sea is no more China's than the Gulf of Mexico is Mexico's," Adm. Harris told a Senate panel in September. "I think that we must exercise our freedom of navigation throughout the region."