HONG KONG (Washington Insider Magazine) – On Thursday, a US Navy destroyer disputed Chinese claims of jurisdiction in and surrounding islands in the South China Sea, stating such claims break international law and “represent a major threat to the sovereignty of the seas,” according to a Navy statement.
The USS Benfold conducted a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) over the Paracel Islands, also called as the Xisha Islands in China, according to Lt. Mark Langford, a spokeswoman for the US 7th Fleet.
The Paracels are a group of 130 tiny coral islands and coral reefs in the South China Sea’s northwest corner. As per the CIA Factbook, they have no native inhabitants and only Chinese military cantonments of 1,400 people.
Vietnam and Taiwan both claim the islands, which have been in Chinese control for nearly 46 years. Military installations of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have been built on the islands.
The Benfold, according to the US Navy, also contested Vietnam’s and Taiwan’s claims.
Sailing inside the 12-mile jurisdictional limit from a country’s coastline recognized by international law is required to assert freedom of navigation rights.
The Navy, on the other hand, singled out China for establishing “straight baselines” covering all of the waters inside the island group, claiming that the Benfold was also challenging those claims.
China reacted sharply to the appearance of the Benfold in what it says are its territorial seas, according to CNN.
What the US has done is a significant violation of China’s national sovereignty, and it is even more proof that it is seeking maritime hegemony and militarizing the South China Sea, said the Chinese military.
China claims sovereignty over practically the entire 1.3 million square miles of the South China Sea.
Langford stated, Thursday’s FONOP was the second challenging Chinese claim in the South China Sea this year (the USS Benfold went close to the Spratly Islands on Tuesday), but he highlighted that it was part of a long-standing US military practice.
The US Navy noted that US troops operate in the South China Sea on a regular basis, as they have for over a century.
