The Spratly Islands are claimed by China, Vietnam, The Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei

THE US Navy is set to test China’s determination to claim the South China Sea by sending one of its most modern destroyers into the midst of a controversial chain of artificial islands.

US defence officials said overnight the warship USS Lassen will be sent in the next 24 hours within 12 nautical miles (22km) of several of China’s new fortifications.

The move comes after months of growing tensions in the South-East Asian region as the chain of bases on remote reefs and shoals nears completion.

Earlier this month, China’s Foreign Ministry asserted it would “never allow any country to violate China’s territorial waters and airspace in the Spratly Islands, in the name of protecting freedom of navigation and overflight.”

Since 2010, China has been actively asserting sovereignty over what it calls the “Nanyang” Sea, known in the west as the South China Sea, a 5.6 million square kilometre stretch of water, islands and reefs between it, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and the Philippines.

These claims even approach the coasts of China’s Asian neighbours.

GUNBOAT DIPLOMACY

The Arleigh-Burke class destroyer USS Lassen, completed in 1999, has been sent to ‘patrol’ in the Spratly Islands near the contested Subi and Mischief reefs.

The point of sailing a US ship within 12 nautical miles (22km) of any of the artificial islands created by China would be to demonstrate the US assertion that they are not sovereign Chinese territory.

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This is likely to be seen as a serious challenge to China’s growing regional influence.

Both sides face major international embarrassment if forced to back down.

US warships have not entered the area since China began constructing the island bases in late 2013.

“Make no mistake, the United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, as we do around the world, and the South China Sea is not and will not be an exception,” Defence Secretary Ash Carter said earlier this month.

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“We’ll do that at times and places of our choosing,” Carter said.

“And there’s no exception to that, whether it’s the Arctic or the sea lanes that fuel international commerce widely around the world, or the South China Sea.”

Such a move risks further inflaming tensions after a US surveillance aircraft was intercepted and challenged while flying in the region earlier this year.

US Navy P-8A and P-3C maritime patrol aircraft will be accompanying the guided missile destroyer.

“This is something that will be a regular occurrence, not a one-off event,” a US defence official told media.

Admiral Harry Harris Jr, commander of the US Pacific Command, recently said the South China Sea is no more China’s than the Gulf of Mexico is Mexico’s.

But China is not the sole object of US diplomatic posturing: The USS Lassen also will sail close to island outposts established by Vietnam and the Philippines.

GREAT ‘SANDCASTLE’ WALL OF CHINA

China is exercising a philosophy of “guyou zhi jiangyu” — “Chinese territory since time immemorial” to justify its expansion into the disputed areas. Essentially, if China thinks it at any time in the past held a piece of land, it considers it to remain its rightful property.

Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam - members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - also claim parts of the sea. Taiwan is a sixth claimant.

China, however, has undertaken a multi-billion dollar geo-engineering project on an enormous scale to establish a permanent presence in the region.

China first began to assert ownership of the South China Sea in 1974 when a surprise military action expelled the South Vietnamese from the Crescent Islands. Seven more islands were occupied in the Spratlys chain in 1988 when Chinese warships clashed with Vietnamese vessels.

In 2012, China occupied the Philippine-claimed Scarborough Shoal and Second Thomas Shoal — ignoring vocal international protests.

Satellite images in 2014 began to show Beijing working on reclaimed millions of square metres of land at the remote reefs and shoals. Imagery has since shown China building a host of dockyard and accommodation facilities, as well as many as three runways.

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea states a national 12 nautical mile (22km) limit cannot be imposed around an artificial island or structure. Instead, a 500 metre safety zone applies.