Its armed forces China announced on Thursday (23/3) that they expelled an American warship who had “illegally infiltrated” an archipelago controlled by them in the South China Sea, a statement which the USA called “fake”.
This particular episode took place in a context of a battle for influence between Beijing and Washington in this maritime zone and intense rivalry on many other issues: Taiwan, TikTok, the treatment of the Uyghur minority, but also trade.
“He illegally penetrated, without the approval of the Chinese authorities, into the waters of the Paracel Islands”
USS Milius destroyer ‘illegally penetrated’ today “without the approval of the Chinese authorities in the waters of the Paracel Islands, Tian Zunli, a spokesman for the southern theater of operations of the Chinese armed forces, said in a brief statement.
“Naval and air forces were mobilized to follow and monitor this warship, as well as issue a warning to him and make him leave the zone” the representative pointed out, as reported by the Athens News Agency.
He denounced an American maneuver that “endangers peace and stability in the South China Sea” and assured that the armed forces “remain alert and will take all necessary measures to resolutely protect national sovereignty.”
The Paracel Islands, an archipelago equidistant from the Chinese and Vietnamese coasts, are claimed by Beijing and Hanoi. The Chinese Navy took control of all of the islands in 1974 after a naval conflict.
“The statement by the PRC (People’s Republic of China) is false,” said a spokesman for the US military’s Indo-Pacific Command.
“The USS Milius (…) is conducting routine operations in the South China Sea and was not expelled. The United States will continue to fly, sail and operate where international law allows,” he added.
China claims to have been the first nation to discover and name the islands of the South China Sea, through which much of the trade between Asia and the rest of the world passes today.
It thus claims a large part of the islands of this sea zone. However, other states, which are washed by this sea (Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei), have competing claims to sovereignty.
Each country controls islands and atolls, particularly in the Spratly Islands archipelago further south, where incidents are much more frequent than in the Paracels.
The United States regularly conducts so-called “freedom of navigation” operations in the South China Sea, sending warships to challenge Chinese claims.
Source: News Beast
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