China strongly condemned Washington after a US Navy guided-missile destroyer deliberately sailed near one of the Beijing-controlled islands in the hotly contested South China Sea to exercise freedom of navigation and challenge China’s territorial claims.
The missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur sailed within 12 nautical miles (22.2km) of Triton Island (Jhongjian Island, 中建島) in the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島).
The action was carried out “to challenge excessive maritime claims of parties that claim the Paracel Islands,” without notifying the three claimants beforehand, US Department of Defense spokesman Mark Wright on Saturday said in Washington.
Taiwan, China and Vietnam have overlapping claims in the Paracel Islands and require prior notice from ships transiting what they consider their territorial waters.
The latest operation was particularly aimed at China, which has increased tensions with the US and its Southeast Asian neighbors by embarking on massive construction of artificial islands and airstrips in contested areas. In October last year, another US warship sailed within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef (Jhubi Reef, 渚碧礁) in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), where China has built one of seven artificial islands.
Wright said the attempts to restrict navigational rights by requiring prior notice are inconsistent with international law.
US officials said that such ship movements would be regular in the future.
Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesman General Yang Yujun (楊宇軍) issued a statement saying the US action “severely violated Chinese law, sabotaged the peace, security and good order of the waters, and undermined the region’ s peace and stability,” Xinhua news agency reported.
Chinese troops on the island and navy vessels and warplanes took actions immediately, identified the US warship and “warned and expelled it swiftly,” Yang said.
The US operation was “very unprofessional and irresponsible for the safety of the troops of both sides, and may cause extremely dangerous consequences,” he said.
Chinese armed forces would take whatever measures “necessary to safeguard China’s sovereignty and security, no matter what provocations the US side may take,” Yang said.
Separately, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) said that the Chinese side conducted surveillance and “vocal warnings to the US warship.”
China claims almost the entire South China Sea. The area has some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and US officials say ensuring freedom of navigation is in US national interests, while not taking sides in the territorial disputes.
China seized the unpopulated Triton Island, an area of 1.2km2, from then-South Vietnam in 1974.
In May 2014, China deployed a huge oil drilling platform off the Vietnamese coast, prompting Vietnam to sent fishing boats and Vietnamese Coast Guard vessels to harass the rig and nearby Chinese vessels.
Skirmishes led to collisions and the capsizing of at least one Vietnamese boat.
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