US aircraft keep distance from artificial islands in the East Sea
According to AFP, on May 21, the Pentagon said that US spy planes and warships have not yet challenged China's sovereignty claims around artificial islands that Beijing has built in the East Sea but warned that it could be the "next step."
“That will be the next step,” Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren told reporters.
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| Chinese fishing boats anchored at the Cross Reef on July 17, 2012. (Source: AFP/VNA) |
Asked whether the US military would take action in the sensitive area, Warren said: “We have no announcements about what steps we will take. We will continue to fly as usual.”
US officials have said they are considering sending warships and spy planes within 12 nautical miles of artificial reefs (which China is building in the Spratly Islands) in the East Sea to challenge Beijing's controversial sovereignty claims./.
According to VNA
