US announces continuous patrols in East Sea

The US on May 21 announced that it will maintain air and sea patrols in international waters after the Chinese Navy repeatedly warned a US surveillance plane to leave the airspace above the international waters in the East Sea.

The US on May 21 announced that it will maintain air and sea patrols in international waters after the Chinese Navy repeatedly warned a US surveillance plane to leave the airspace above the international waters in the East Sea.

A Chinese man-made island is illegally onstructed in the East Sea (Photo: CNN)

The Assistance Secretary of State for the East Asian-Pacific region, Daniel Russel, told a media briefing in Washington DC that the US reconnaissance flight is entirely appropriate and the country’s naval forces and military aircraft will continue to fully exercise the right to operate in international waters and airspace.

The US will act to ensure all countries to enjoy the right, he added.

Earlier, US-based CNN launched a video featuring that on May 20 the Chinese Navy issued eight warnings to the crew of a US P8-A Poseidon, the US military’s most advanced surveillance aircraft, while it was flying over the international waters, near an artificial island China is creating illegally in the East Sea.

Regarding the video, the spokesman for the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, Le Hai Binh, told reporters at the ministry’s regular press conference on May 21 that maintaining peace, stability, aviation and maritime security and safety in the East Sea, which forms an important international maritime route and aviation corridor, is the common interest and aspiration of nations inside and outside the region.

Vietnam calls on countries concerned to contribute to maintaining peace, stability, aviation and maritime security and safety in the East Sea in a responsible and active manner, while respecting the sovereignty, sovereign right and jurisdiction of coastal nations on the basis of international law, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and avoiding complicating the situation, he stated.