Seoul, South Korea (Washington Insider Magazine) – In what was the second such operation this week, a US Navy destroyer on Saturday disputed Chinese claims over disputed islands located in the South China Sea, according to a statement from the US 7th Fleet.
In a so-called “freedom of navigation operation” (FONOP), the guided-missile warship USS Benfold traveled close to the Spratly Islands, also known as the Nansha Islands in China, in the southeast South China Sea, according to a statement from the 7th Fleet.
The People’s Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan, and Vietnam disputed US Navy limitations on innocent passage in the island chain where China has installed military bases on artificial islands, according to the statement.
As defined by international law, the term “territorial sea” pertains to the seas that are within 12 nautical miles of a country’s coastline.
According to CNN, although the Philippines, Brunei, and Malaysia also assert their sovereignty over a section of the Spratly Islands, the US Navy did not indicate in its statement that its warship was disputing any of those claims.
According to Navy statements, Saturday’s action was the second for the Benfold over the past 4 days and the fourth FONOP to challenge Chinese claims this year.
It carried out the same task on Wednesday in the Paracel Islands, a group of islands in the northern South China Sea that China refers to as the Xisha Islands and that Taiwan and Vietnam also claim.
Beijing responded fiercely to the US Navy’s Paracels FONOP on Wednesday.
The US Navy, according to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), is raising tensions in the region.
According to the PLA statement, facts once again demonstrate that the United States is a flagrant “South China Sea Risk Maker” and “Disruptor of Regional Peace and Stability.”
The freedom of the seas, along with the freedoms of passage and overflight, free trade and unhindered commerce, and freedom of economic opportunity, are seriously threatened, according to Washington, by China and others’ imposing excessive maritime claims.
