Beijing: China has reported that it monitored and warned a US Navy destroyer USS Halsey in the contentious South China Sea, shortly after the vessel’s transit through the Taiwan Strait sparked tensions with China.
The Southern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army issued a statement on Friday, asserting that China’s military “drove away” the US Navy destroyer, which entered the territorial waters of the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on May 10.
Despite an international ruling rejecting its claims as legally unfounded, Beijing maintains control over nearly the entire South China Sea. It upholds a substantial presence of coast guard, navy, and other vessels to patrol and fortify the region.
The US action “seriously infringed on China’s sovereignty and security,” the military stated. “It is yet another iron proof of its navigation hegemony and militarization of the South China Sea,” it added, stating that its troops would remain on high alert to safeguard national security.
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The U.S. Navy, in a statement, maintained that the destroyer exercised navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands “consistent with international law”.
Following its operation, the USS Halsey departed the area and continued its course in the South China Sea, the statement noted.
This recent dispute between China and the US emerges amidst escalated tensions in the strategic South China Sea, with the US ally, the Philippines, engaged in a bitter diplomatic dispute with Beijing over contested waters in the region.
China lays claim to large portions of the South China Sea, overlapping with claims by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei. In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled that Beijing’s claims had no basis under international law.
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Friday’s naval confrontation between US and Chinese forces occurred just days after the USS Halsey traversed the Taiwan Strait, a narrow body of water spanning 180 kilometers, separating the island from China.
Chinese naval colonel Li Xi dismissed the US warship passage as “public hype”. He stated late on Wednesday that the Eastern Theatre Command had deployed naval and air forces “to monitor the passage of the US ship throughout the entire process.”
China regards Taiwan as part of its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to bring the island under Beijing’s control.
Taiwanese defense and coast guard officials reported on Thursday the detection of dozens of Chinese warplanes and ships around the island.
