Admiral Samuel Locklear, commander of US forces in the Pacific, told the Shangri-La Dialogue, a high-level defence forum in Singapore, that PLA navy had started "reciprocating" US navy's tactics of sending ships and aircraft into the 200-nautical-mile zone off China's coast.
China's experts on the international law of the sea said the move suggested a significant change in China's maritime strategy and development policy, while others apprehend that it could lead to direct confrontation.
Zhao Yadan, a maritime expert with Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said that it was a significant development in China's maritime policy and suggested that "Beijing is moving towards international norms".
"That says that Beijing is accepting the international norms, which emphasise the right of free navigation on the high seas," the Post quoted him as saying.
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China and the US have struggled to agree on rules for operating on high seas amid rising tensions across the region as China's military strength grows.
In the past month, Japan has detected three foreign submarines near the Okinawa Islands.
Japanese officials say they know the nationality of the vessels and have made diplomatic representations to that government, the Post report said.
A professor of international relations at Tokyo's Meiji University, Go Ito, said China's position was hypocritical because it thought of its 200 nautical mile EEZ as its "exclusive political zone and its territory".
He said Japan had been watching the PLA Navy carefully for some time and he believed China would use it submarines to expand the scope of its activities in the Pacific.
Qi Jianguo, deputy chief of general staff of the PLA, told the Shangrila dialogue forum two days ago that China is committed to work for sustained peace and stability in the Asia Pacific region but at the same would remain steadfast in safeguarding its core national interests.