It is the third time this year that Washington has challenged Beijing’s maritime claims in the region amid escalating rivalry between the two powers.
U.S. military said two of its warships sailed near islands claimed by China in the South China Sea on Monday, a move that angered Beijing at a time of tense ties between the world’s two biggest economies. The busy waterway is one of a growing number of flashpoints in the U.S.-China relationship, which also include a trade war, U.S. sanctions and Taiwan.
Guided-missile destroyers USS Preble and USS Chung-Hoon passed within 12 nautical miles of Gaven and Johnson reefs in the Spratly Islands on Monday, Commander Clay Doss, a spokesman for the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet, was quoted as saying by Reuters.
The features are also claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.
Doss said the move aimed to assert international rights to “innocent passage” and “challenge excessive maritime claims” in accordance with international law, according to the report.
The incident was the third time this year that the US has conducted so-called freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea, compared to five publicly reported passages last year and four in 2017.The move drew criticism from Beijing, with the foreign ministry calling for the US to end the
provocation.
“The US warships’ actions have violated China’s sovereignty and disturbed the peace, security and order of the region,” ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.
“The Chinese side is strongly dissatisfied and firmly opposed to that.”
Senior Colonel Li Huamin, a spokesman for the Southern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army, said in a message on the PLA Daily’s social media account that the PLA Navy “identified” and “warned off” the US vessels.
The command was on “heightened alert” and would “take all necessary measures” to safeguard China’s sovereignty over the South China Sea, he said.
The rivalry between China and the US in the disputed waters has been increasing amid a protracted trade war and other areas of conflict. The prospect of reaching a final deal on the trade dispute was rocked on Sunday when
US President Donald Trump threatened to push ahead with an earlier shelved threat to increase the punitive tariff rate on US$200 billion worth of Chinese imports to 25 per cent from 10 per cent. The increase would happen on Friday, he said in a tweet.
Doss said the freedom of navigation operations “are not about any one country, nor are they about making political statements”.
But Admiral Phil Davidson, head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, suggested in February that naval operations by the US and its allies like Britain would become more frequent.
A similar patrol in September, also near Gavin and Johnson reefs, resulted in a near collision when a US destroyer was forced to make a last-minute manoeuvre to avoid hitting a Chinese warship.
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