|
 U.S. chief of naval operations Admiral John Richardson and his
Chinese counterpart, Admiral Wu Shengli, would hold an hour long
video teleconference on Thursday, a U.S. official said.
A spokesman for China's Ministry of Defence said Wu would present
China's "solemn position on the US vessel's entry without
permission" into waters in the Spratly archipelago in the South
China Sea.
Both officers initiated the meeting to discuss recent operations in
the South China Sea as well as naval ties, the U.S. official said.
It will be the third such video teleconference between the
countries' naval chiefs.
Beijing rebuked Washington for sending a guided-missile destroyer
within 12 nautical miles of one of China's man-made islands in the
Spratly archipelago on Tuesday, saying it had tracked and warned the
USS Lassen and called in the U.S. ambassador to protest.
""We would urge the US side not to continue down the wrong path,"
Defence Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told a regular briefing. "But
if they do, we will take all necessary measures in accordance with
the need."
 Chinese President Xi Jinping will next week visit Vietnam, another
vocal claimant in the South China Sea, and Singapore, while Chinese
Defence Minister Chang Wanquan will attend a meeting of Southeast
Asian defense ministers in Malaysia.
The patrol was the most significant U.S. challenge yet to
territorial limits China claims around its artificial islands in one
of the world's busiest sea lanes.
"Neither the U.S. nor China desires a military conflict, but the key
problem is that the core interests of both sides collide in the
South China Sea," said Ni Lexiong, a naval expert at the Shanghai
University of Political Science and Law.
"It's hard to see either side backing down."
Separately, the English-language China Daily newspaper reported that
Admiral Harry Harris, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, would
visit Beijing next week. It cited an unnamed source and gave no
further details.
Ministry spokesman Yang said the plan was for Harris to visit before
the end of the year, and that both sides remained "in communication"
about it. He did not elaborate.
A U.S. embassy spokesman declined to comment.
Harris has been highly critical of China's island building in the
Spratlys. This year he said China was using dredges and bulldozers
to create a "great wall of sand" in the South China Sea.
 China rotates a large number of naval and coastguard vessels through
the South China Sea, both for patrols and training missions,
security experts say.
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Chinese state media said on Thursday a "guided-missile destroyer
flotilla" under the navy's South China Sea Fleet carried out a
"realistic confrontation training exercise" involving anti-aircraft
firing and firing at shore at night.
A state-owned news website carried photos from the drills, saying
they took place recently in the South China Sea. One picture showed
three warships sailing in a row.
MILITARY EXERCISES
Despite criticism of China's action in the South China Sea, foreign
navies from the United States to Europe have sought to build ties
with their Chinese counterparts.
A French frigate docked at China's main South China Sea base of
Zhanjiang in the southern province of Guangdong on Wednesday on a
four-day visit. It will participate in a maritime exercise about
accidental encounters at sea.
Two Australian warships will also hold exercises with the Chinese
navy in the South China Sea next week, Australian Defence Minister
Marise Payne said on Thursday.
"There have been no changes or delays to the schedule of the HMAS
Arunta and HMAS Stuart since the United States activity in the South
China Sea on 27 October 2015," Payne said in a statement that gave
no details on the precise location for the exercise.
Australian media said it would include live-fire drills.
Australia, a key U.S. ally in the region, expressed its strong
support for freedom of navigation this week, while stopping short of
welcoming the USS Lassen's patrol.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5
trillion of world trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia,
Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal in Washington, John Ruwitch in Shanghai,
Megha Rajagopalan and Ben Blanchard in Beijing and Lincoln Feast in
Sydney; Editing by Dean Yates, Robert Birsel)
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