Beijing blasts US over ‘provocative military acts’ in the South China Sea

Defence ministry claims United States ‘carried out navigational hegemony’ by repeatedly sending warships to the region

US aircraft carrier groups conducted drills in the area last week while Chinese navy held its own exercises near contested Paracel Islands

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The US Navy sent two aircraft carrier groups, the USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan, to conduct drills in the South China Sea last week. Photo: AFP/US Navy

Published: 5:30pm, 10 Jul 2020Updated: 11:13pm, 10 Jul 2020

China’s defence ministry has lambasted the US for “provocative acts” after it sent two aircraft carrier groups into the South China Sea while the Chinese military was conducting exercises in the disputed waters.

In a statement on Thursday, the ministry claimed the United States had “carried out navigational hegemony” through repeated deployments of warships to the region, saying Washington was the biggest driver of militarisation in the strategic waterway.

“We hope the US will examine itself and stop its provocative military acts in the South China Sea, stop smearing and blaming the Chinese side for no reason, stop trying to drive a wedge between countries in the region, and stop creating this tense situation,” a spokesperson said on the ministry’s website.

China’s military said it had engaged in routine training exercises from July 1 to July 5 near the Paracel Islands, known as the Xisha Islands in Chinese, that are claimed by China, Vietnam and Taiwan. The US Navy announced on July 4 that it had deployed two aircraft carrier groups, the USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan, to conduct tactical air defence exercises in the South China Sea “in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific”.

The US Navy said it was conducting tactical air defence exercises “in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific”. Photo: EPA-EFE

Territorial disputes in the South China Sea – over 80 per cent of which Beijing claims as its own – have been a long-standing source of regional tension, including with rival claimants Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. While Washington does not have claims in the strategic waters, it has been a vocal critic of Beijing’s increasingly aggressive assertions of its sovereignty in the South China Sea, and the US has regularly staged freedom of navigation operations there.

There are ongoing efforts to resume negotiations between China and the countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) for a code of conduct in the South China Sea, a long-delayed effort complicated by sabre-rattling and rivalry between Beijing and Washington.