(VOVworld) - US Senator John McCain on Wednesday welcomed the decision by US President Barack Obama to allow the US Navy to deploy the guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen within 12 nautical miles of China’s manmade land features in Vietnam’s Truong Sa archipelago. He said the move should have been made earlier.

The guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen in the East Sea. (Photo: US Navy/Declan Barnes)

Meanwhile, Randy Forbes from the US House Armed Services Committee said that the action was necessary due to instability in the region. He stressed that according to international laws, China has no legal sovereignty over these waters and now was the time for President Obama’s administration to confirm its long-term commitment to maritime freedom, peace, and stability in the Asia-Pacific. Earlier, at the hearing of the US Senate Armed Services Committee, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter asserted the right of US activity with the 12 nautical miles around the artificial islands that China illegally built in Truong Sa archipelago.

The Philippines and Australia supported the US decision to sail one of its destroyers near the islands, backing the principle of freedom of navigation in the tense East Sea area. Philippine President Benigno Aquino III said freedom of navigation “should not be inhibited” and said the U.S. step was important to preserve the “balance of power” in the Asia-Pacific region.

Australia’s Defense Minister Marise Payne said it is important to recognize that all states have the right under international law to freedom of navigation and freedom of overflight, including in the East Sea.