Beijing claims it has warned a US destroyer in South China Sea after missile launch
- The USS Mustin sailed near the Paracel Islands in the disputed waterway after Chinese missile launch in the region
- Deployment intended to keep critical shipping lanes ‘free and open’, American Pacific Fleet says
The Chinese military said the destroyer sailed into “China’s territorial waters” near the islands, called the Xisha by China, and the PLA Southern Theatre Command had dispatched naval and air forces and “expelled” the US Navy ship.
“China has indisputable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and their adjacent waters in the region, and the command troops are always on high alert to resolutely protect national sovereignty and safeguard peace and stability in the region of the South China Sea”, PLA spokesman Senior Colonel Li Huamin said early on Friday.
South China Sea: the dispute that could start a military conflict
China has been conducting military drills almost simultaneously in four sea regions, a rare move seen by experts as designed to signal its readiness to handle a confrontation with the US and self-ruled Taiwan. An exercise has been ongoing east of the southern Chinese island province of Hainan, which has been restricted to non-military access from Monday until Saturday.
At the same time, the US has also stepped up its military presence, holding drills with Japan and South Korea in the past two weeks.
Taiwan and Asean member states the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei all have competing claims in the resource-rich waters, while China claims almost all of the region. The US has no territorial interest in the disputed waters but has deployed warships and aircraft it says are intended to promote freedom of navigation.
Washington last month called China’s claims to the waterway – which is used to move US$3 trillion of international trade each year – “unlawful”, quoting a 2016 decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.
The US has repeatedly said that US forces will continue to operate in the South China Sea on a daily basis, as they have for more than a century.
The US Department of Defence said on Thursday that China’s missile launches threatened peace and security in the region. Beijing’s “actions, including missile tests, further destabilise the situation in the South China Sea”, the Pentagon said in a statement.
