China says it warned off US warship in Paracel Islands. American navy differs
- Conflicting claims made by the two militaries after USS Benfold enters the chain in the disputed South China Sea
- PLA accuses US of ‘navigational hegemony’ but US Navy says ‘Chinese-claimed straight baselines’ around the islands are unlawful
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said that its air and naval forces had warned off the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold after it entered the chain, known in China as the Xisha Islands and claimed by Beijing, Taipei and Hanoi. However, the US Navy denied that it had been warned off.
The PLA said that the American ship had entered China’s territorial waters, without providing a precise track of its passage.
It issued a statement in which PLA Southern Theatre Command spokesman Tian Junlin called the passage “another piece of ironclad evidence of [the US] pursuit of navigational hegemony and militarisation of the South China Sea”.
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Washington’s hardened position on Beijing’s claims in South China Sea heightens US-China tensions
The statement called on the US military to “immediately cease such provocative actions, otherwise it will bear the serious consequences of unpredictable events”.
The US Navy described its warship’s passage as “innocent” and aimed at challenging Beijing’s expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea.