Washington had little choice than to assert its rights

Four lessons can be drawn from the transit of USS Lassen within 12 nautical miles of one of China’s artificial islands in the South China Sea.

First, at long last Washington has exercised a global right to freedom of navigation on the high seas.

China’s claim of sovereignty over most of the South China Sea has more to do with occupying some rapidly constructed islands than any accepted legal claim. In a fast-changing dispute, the US had little choice other than to assert physically its right to sail through the area or to accept tacitly that Beijing’s grab for control was the new reality.

A second lesson is that China does not appear to have tried to block the ship’s movement. The risks are high. In April 2001, a crisis in Sino-American relations erupted when a Chinese fighter aircraft collided midair with a US surveillance aircraft, forcing the latter to crash-land on Hainan Island in the East China Sea. Beijing heated up the rhetoric, but calmer heads prevailed.

Washington signalled early that this transit was to take place. A guided-missile destroyer, the USS Lassen was more than capable of defeating any threat. China read the signal right that this was not a moment to play high-seas games of chicken.

A third lesson is that the regional reaction works very favourably for the US. With the exception of North Korea, none of China’s neighbours was happy with Beijing’s assertion of power in building artificial islands accompanied with sharper rhetoric about their sovereignty of the area. Not every country will say so publicly but almost every Asia-Pacific country will be thankful that the US did what it did.

Finally, the challenge for Australia will be to follow up with a tangible expression of our own. Our interests are more directly engaged than even America’s.

This is far from the endgame. Strategic competition in the region is increasing. It is essential to know where our interests are at stake and, along with friends and allies, to be prepared to stand up for them.

Peter Jennings is the executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.