The Chinese defence ministry warned the US military of “serious consequences” after it had to monitor for the second consecutive day a US Navy destroyer, which entered territorial waters claimed by China near a disputed island in the South China Sea on Friday.
It marked the second straight day of heated exchanges between two of the most powerful navies in the world as tensions rose in the disputed waters of the South China Sea over Beijing’s sweeping maritime territorial claims and Washington’s insistence on “freedom of navigation” in international waters.
China is also in dispute with the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia over the ownership of other islands in the South China Sea.
“We sternly demand the US side to immediately stop such provocative behaviors, otherwise it would take the serious consequences of every eventuality it caused”, the Chinese defence ministry spokesperson, Tan Kefei, said in a statement.
Tan added the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and security, as well as peace and stability in the South China Sea.
The USS Milius guided-missile destroyer had sailed near the disputed Xisha islands (Paracel in English) on Thursday, prompting the PLA’s southern Command to deploy ships and aircraft to track and expel it from the waters, a claim rejected by the US military.
The Xisha islands are occupied by China but are claimed by Vietnam as well as Taiwan, a the self-ruled democracy Beijing claims as a breakaway region.
The same US warship again sailed in the vicinity of the islands on Friday, as part of what it called a “freedom of navigation operation”.
“At the conclusion of the operation, Milius exited the excessive claim and continued operations in the South China Sea,” the US 7th Fleet, of which the destroyer is a part, said in a statement.
“This freedom of navigation operation (“FONOP”) upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea recognised in international law by challenging the restrictions on innocent passage imposed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan, and Vietnam and also by challenging PRC’s claim to straight baselines enclosing the Paracel Islands,” the US navy statement added.
The statement added that “unlawful” maritime claims in the South China Sea pose “…a serious threat to the freedom of the seas, including the freedoms of navigation and overflight, free trade and unimpeded commerce, and freedom of economic opportunity for South China Sea littoral nations”.
China’s defence ministry was quick to respond, accusing Washington of “undermining the peace and stability of the South China Sea” with its actions.
Tan remarked that the US military’s move “gravely violated China’s sovereignty and security, as well as the international law, which is another irrefutable proof of its navigation hegemony and militarisation of the South China Sea”.