Special to WorldTribune.com

The South China Sea is “international waters” and the United States will treat it as such, the new U.S. chief of naval operations (CNO) said.

“That is everybody’s sea. You know 30 percent of the world’s trade goes through the South China Sea. Nobody owns that. It’s open. It’s international waters,” Richardson said in an interview on Oct. 22 with Defense News.

The CNO’s comments came as the US Navy has been preparing to send ships close to China’s artificial islands in the South China Sea. Pentagon sources said the destroyer Lassen has been on standby to sail near the islands, but has yet to be given the go-ahead. Asked about when that would happen, Richardson declined to provide details.

Richardson, who has been the Navy’s CNO for just over a month, has been on a world tour that includes stops in Hawaii, Japan, South Korea, the Persian Gulf and Italy.

Richardson’s comments on the South China Sea came after the commander of the Chinese Navy’s northern fleet, Vice Adm. Yuan Yubai, said last month that “the South China Sea, as the name indicated, is a sea area that belongs to China. And since the Tang Dynasty a long time ago, the Chinese people have been working and producing around the sea area.”

In his Sept. 14 comments, Yuan also spotlighted Beijing’s aspirations in becoming a guarantor of safe passage over international waters — a role long embraced by the United States.

Richardson disagreed with Yuan’s assessment: “What is coming into clear focus is that the defendant of the guarantor of prosperity and access is the system of rules and norms that we all abide by. It’s interesting that some of the folks that are making contrary claims now … are the very nations who prosper the most under the current system of international rules and norms.”

Richardson added that “in terms of reinforcing the United States — as a global nation and our Navy as a global Navy able and willing to transit and pass through international waters — that’s a commitment we stand pretty firmly by. From the president on down, we iterate that position pretty clearly. Using the system of international norms and rules, none of this should be interpreted as provocative or responsive, this is just business as usual in the international system.”

  Adm. John Richardson, artificial islands, Chinese counterpart take opposite stands on ownership of S. China Sea, New U.S. Navy chief, Vice Adm. Yuan Yubai, WorldTribune.com