A US warship carried out a “maneuvering drill” when it sailed within 12 nautical miles (22.2km) of an artificial island built up by China in the South China Sea to show Beijing it was not entitled to a territorial sea around it, US officials said on Thursday.
The operation near Mischief Reef (Meiji Reef, 美濟礁) — part of the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), which Taiwan also claims — was the boldest US challenge yet to Chinese island-building in the strategic waterway.
It drew an angry response from China, which US President Donald Trump has tried to court in recent weeks to persuade it to take a tougher line on North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
Photo: EPA
Analysts say previous US freedom-of-navigation operations in the Spratlys involved “innocent passage,” in which a warship effectively recognized a territorial sea by crossing it speedily, without stopping.
On Thursday, the destroyer USS Dewey conducted a “man overboard” exercise, specifically to show that its passage within 12 nautical miles was not innocent passage, US officials said.
“USS Dewey engaged in normal operations by conducting a maneuvering drill inside 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef,” one official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The ship’s actions demonstrated that Mischief Reef is not entitled to its own territorial sea regardless of whether an artificial island has been built on top of it.”
Freedom of navigation operations are not specific to one nation and the US Department of Defense would release summaries of these operations in an annual report and not sooner, Pentagon spokesman Gary Ross said.
“We are continuing regular FONOPS, as we have routinely done in the past and will continue to do in the future,” Ross said, using an acronym for freedom of navigation operations.
The Pentagon has not confirmed the latest operation.
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, where Taiwan has virtually identical claims, and Washington has criticized its construction of islands and buildup of military facilities there.
US allies and partners in the region had grown anxious as the Trump administration held off on carrying out South China Sea operations during its first few months in office.
Greg Poling of Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank said that under international law, Mischief Reef was not entitled to a territorial sea, as it was underwater at high tide before it was built up by China.
“This was a statement to the Chinese,” he said. “The previous two freedom of navigation operations only challenged China’s demand for prior notification for innocent passage through the territorial sea; this one asserted that there is no territorial sea at all.”
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