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 "We will be doing them more, and we'll be doing them with greater
complexity in the future and ... we'll fly, sail and operate
wherever international law allows," Admiral Harry Harris, head of
the U.S. Navy's Pacific Command, told a hearing of the House of
Representatives Armed Services Committee.
"We must continue to operate in the South China Sea to demonstrate
that water space and the air above it is international," Harris
said.
On Tuesday, Harris said in comments coinciding with a visit to
Washington by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that China was
"changing the operational landscape" in the South China Sea by
deploying missiles and radar as part of an effort to militarily
dominate East Asia.
China says its military facilities in the South China Sea are "legal
and appropriate," and on Tuesday, in an apparent reference to U.S.
patrols, Wang said Beijing hoped not to see more close-up
reconnaissance, or the dispatch of missile destroyers or strategic
bombers.
 Wang met with U.S. national security adviser Susan Rice on Wednesday
and they "candidly discussed" maritime issues, the White House said
in a statement. Rice emphasized strong U.S. support for freedom of
navigation and urged China to address regional concerns, the
statement said.
China's official Xinhua news agency said of the meeting that both
countries believed all sides should work hard to maintain the peace
and stability of the South China Sea.
"The South China Sea issue should be resolved via dialogue and
peaceful means," Xinhua added.
Harris, asked what more could be done to deter militarization, said
the United States could deploy more naval assets, although there
were significant "fiscal, diplomatic and political hurdles" in the
way of stationing a second aircraft carrier group in the region.
"We could consider putting another (attack) submarine out there, we
could put additional destroyers forward ...there are a lot of things
we could do, short of putting a full carrier strike group in the
Western Pacific," he said.
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China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5
trillion in global trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia,
Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.
Harris's comments came a day after he said China had deployed
surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island in the South China Sea's
Paracel chain and radars on Cuarteron Reef in the Spratly islands
further to the south.
On Tuesday, his command said China's repeated deployment of advanced
fighter aircraft to Woody Island was part of a disturbing trend that
was inconsistent with Beijing's commitment to avoid actions that
could escalate disputes.
Last month, a U.S. Navy destroyer carried out a patrol within 12
nautical miles of Triton Island in the Paracels, a move China called
provocative.
The United States has also conducted sea and air patrols near
artificial islands China has built in the Spratlys, including by two
B-52 strategic bombers in November.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom,
Clarece Polke and Eric Beech, and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing
by Susan Heavey, James Dalgleish, Leslie Adler and Michael perry)
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