US weighs moves to counter China's 'wall of sand'

The US military might deploy warships and surveillance aircraft near artificial islands being built by China to challenge Beijing's territorial claims in the South China Sea, officials said today.
But the US officials acknowledge such a move may fail to halt Beijing's massive land reclamation effort, recently dubbed China's "great wall of sand" by an American naval commander.
The Pentagon is weighing a range of options, including sailing destroyers or other naval ships within 12 nautical miles of the man-made islands, as well as flying P-3 and P-8 surveillance planes overhead, two defense officials told AFP.
The maritime and air patrols would be designed "to demonstrate support for freedom of navigation" and "to reassure our allies," said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"We have never recognized these artificial islands as legitimate claims," the official said.
"We see freedom of navigation as a fundamental, underlying principle that has to be upheld."

The Wall Street Journal first reported the options under consideration.
US officials admitted that China has been building at a rapid pace in recent years and that concerns expressed by the United States and regional governments so far have had little effect.
Last week, Pentagon officials revealed that China has been building artificial islands on top of coral reefs at an unprecedented pace. The rapid construction comes to 2,000 acres (800 hectares), with 75 percent of the total just in the last five months.

Washington is concerned China's increasingly assertive stance carries a military dimension that could undermine the sovereignty of neighboring nations and undercut America's naval and economic power in the Pacific.