Beijing – Archyde.com
A US destroyer sailed near the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on Wednesday, prompting an angry response from Beijing, which said its military had “removed” the ship following it illegally entered territorial waters. The United States regularly carries out what it calls freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea, defying what it says are traffic restrictions imposed by China and others.
The US Navy said the USS Penfold affirmed navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands, in accordance with international law.
Illegal and comprehensive maritime claims (sovereignty) in the South China Sea pose a serious threat to the freedom of the seas, including freedom of navigation and overflight, and free trade.
China says it does not impede freedom of navigation or overflight, and accuses the United States of deliberately raising tension. The People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Command said the US ship’s actions seriously violated China’s sovereignty and security by illegally entering China’s territorial waters around the Paracel Islands, which are also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.
She added that the People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Region Command directed naval and air forces to follow up, monitor, warn and remove the ship, and showed pictures of the American ship taken from the deck of the Chinese frigate Xianying.
She said: The facts once once more show that the United States is nothing but a security risk maker in the South China Sea and a destroyer of regional peace and stability.
China seized the Paracel Islands from the South Vietnamese government in 1974. China claims almost all of the South China Sea. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei also have competing and often overlapping claims to sovereignty.
