South China Sea: Beijing says US ‘seriously infringed’ on its sovereignty after warship sails near Paracels

USS Benfold had been asserting its right to navigate through the waters under international law, according to US Seventh Fleet

PLA spokesman says the destroyer was shadowed, monitored and warned off after entering Chinese territorial waters illegally

Reading Time:3 minutes

American guided-missile destroyer the USS Benfold sailed near the contested Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on Wednesday. Photo: US Navy via Reuters

Published: 5:00pm, 13 Jul 2022Updated: 5:10pm, 13 Jul 2022

China has accused the United States of infringing on its territorial waters after an American guided-missile destroyer sailed near the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on Wednesday.

The USS Benfold had been asserting its right to navigate through the waters under international law, the US Seventh Fleet said in a statement. It said restrictions on innocent passage imposed by China and other claimants to the islands breached international law.

A vessel conducts an innocent passage if it does not harm the peace, order or security of a coastal state under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, a treaty signed by China and Vietnam, but not the US.

The US Navy regularly conducts freedom of navigation operations to challenge maritime claims it deems to be excessive and outside international law.

Wednesday’s sailing came a day after the sixth anniversary of an international tribunal ruling that said China had no historic rights over most of its South China Sea claims. The USS Benfold also sailed near the Paracels on the fifth anniversary of the decision, which Beijing has rejected.

In a statement, Senior Colonel Tian Junli, a spokesman for the PLA Southern Theatre Command, said: “Actions by the US military seriously infringed on China’s sovereignty and security, seriously undermined peace and stability in the South China Sea, and seriously violated international law and norms of international relations.”