Beijing said it ‘drove away’ a US warship for entering Chinese waters near the disputed Paracel Islands on Monday, the anniversary of a landmark ruling by an international tribunal ruling Beijing has no right to control the sea. In violating China’s sovereignty, the USS Benfold entered Paracels waters without permission of the Chinese government, the People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater Command said. ‘We urge the United States to stop such provocative actions,’ the command said in a statement.
U.S. Navy 7th Fleet said in a statement that the Benfold had ‘asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the vicinity of the Paracel Islands, consistent with international law,’ and dismissed Chinese claims of serious violation of sovereignty as ‘false’ and misleading. As reflected in the Convention on the Law of the Sea, all ships have the right to ‘innocent passage’ under international law, and permission is not required.
‘This operation demonstrates our commitment to upholding the freedom of navigation and lawful uses of the sea,’ the statement said. The United States will continue to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, as the USS Benfold did here. Nothing the PRC (the People’s Republic of China) says will deter us. There are hundreds of islands, reefs and atolls in the resource-rich South China Sea, contested by China, Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. Beijing claims historic rights to everything within its nine-dash line, which covers much of the region.
In the 1970s, China seized control of the Paracel Islands, a chain of barren islands about 250 miles (400km) east of Vietnam and 220 miles (350km) southeast of Hainan Island. Vietnam (which calls them Hoang Sa) and Taiwan also claim them. According to the US Navy, military vessels sailing through the area must obtain permission or advance notification from all three countries. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague rejected China’s nine-dash line on July 12, 2016, ruling that Beijing has no historic title to the South China Sea.
In addition, it stated that China had interfered with traditional Philippine fishing rights at Scarborough Shoal and breached the Philippines’ sovereignty by exploring for oil and gas near Reed Bank. Over the past five years, China has repeatedly stated that it does not accept the ruling and has expanded its presence in the South China Sea. ‘Nowhere is the rules-based maritime order under greater threat than in the South China Sea,’ Blinken said in a written statement on Sunday.
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The People’s Republic of China continues to coerce and intimidate Southeast Asian coastal states, undermining freedom of navigation. He also repeated a warning to China that an attack on Philippine military forces in the South China Sea would trigger the 1951 US-Philippine mutual defense agreement. He urged the PRC to abide by its obligations under international law, cease its provocative behavior, and demonstrate to the international community that it is committed to a rules-based maritime order that respects the rights of all nations, big and small.
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