The US Navy on Wednesday defended US freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea, saying the US wants to expand its joint naval exercises with allies in the Asia Pacific as these contribute to regional stability.

Admiral Harry Harris, Chief of the US Pacific Command (PACOM), made the statement at a briefing with Southeast Asian journalists ahead of US President Barrack Obama's summit meeting with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in California next week.

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The Chinese government has warned that US naval operations in the South China Sea are threatening the peace and stability of the region.

Speaking with the press at the US Navy's PACOM headquarters in Hawaii, however, Harris said he welcomed the plans of other countries in the Pacific to join the US Navy's patrols in the South China Sea.

"Bullying Tactics"

"The patrols we have, whether singularly or jointly, not only in the South China Sea but also in the region, help decrease tension because it reinforces the notion that freedom of navigation is important," Harris said.   "I do seek more multilateral exercises in the region."

Harris -- who is the first Asian-American to attain the rank of admiral in the US Navy -- said he welcomes the plans of Japan and India to patrol the South China Sea. He criticized China's activities in the region for being "provocative."

"I support the right of every country to patrol the South China Sea because the South China Sea at large does not belong to any country," Harris stated.

Obama is set to meet with leaders of the ASEAN at the California's Sunnylands resort on February 15 to 16.  White House officials have said that maritime and territorial disputes over the South China Sea will be among the main items on the agenda of the meeting.

"China's approach is not only salami-slicing the region, but it [also] likes to apply bullying tactics with each ASEAN country bilaterally, one-on-one, rather than taking on ASEAN as a whole," Harris asserted. "You should work stronger together as ASEAN."

The South China Sea has become one of the most divisive strategic issues between China and the US, mainly because Washington challenges Beijing's land reclamation plans and has raised concerns that China's newly built artificial islands could be transformed into military outposts.

Peaceful Intentions

China's white-hulled coast guard vessels have become the vanguard for Beijing's claims over the contested waters. 

In December, Admiral Scott Swift, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, implicitly accused China of using the civilian vessels to build "so-called military zones" around its artificial islands, and declared such actions have eroded the security of one of the world's busiest waterways.

China denied the accusation, and emphasized that its intentions in the South China Sea are peaceful.

"China and ASEAN states have been devoted to jointly maintaining the peace and stability of the South China Sea," said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei. "The general situation in the South China Sea is stable."

China's maritime and territorial claims in the area have nonetheless led other claimants to develop their own civilian fleets, according to Bloomberg, even as they have entered maritime security agreements between countries like Japan, the US, India and Australia. 

The Obama administration has embarked on a program to bolster regional allies and re-orient more US resources toward the Asia Pacific in what Pentagon officials have described as an effort to check China's growing military presence in the region. In keeping with Washington's re-balance policy, analysts say the Pentagon is moving forward on plans to deploy 60 percent of the US Navy's entire fleet of warships to the region by 2020.

In 2013, US state secretary John Kerry unveiled a multi-million dollar maritime law enforcement initiative that would benefit the coast guard forces of at least four ASEAN member nations: the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.

At the same time, Japan has agreed to provide the Philippines with 10 new coast guard vessels, and Vietnam with six. 

TagsUS-China relations, ASEAN, Territorial disputes in the South China Sea