BANGKOK 24 Mar (Online): China threatened \u201cserious consequences\u201d Friday after the US Navy sailed a destroyer around the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea for the second day in a row, in a move Beijing claimed was a violation of its sovereignty and security.<\/p>\n
The warning comes amid growing tensions between China and the United States in the region, as Washington pushes back at Beijing\u2019s growingly assertive posture in the South China Sea, a strategic waterway it claims virtually in its entirety.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, after the US sailed the USS Milius guided-missile destroyer near the Paracel Islands, China said its navy and air force had forced the American vessel away, a claim the US military denied.<\/p>\n
The US on Friday sailed the ship again in the vicinity of the islands, which are occupied by China but also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam, as part of what it called a \u201cfreedom of navigation operation\u201d challenging requirements from all three nations requiring either advance notification or permission before a military vessel sails by.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnlawful and sweeping 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,\u201d said US 7th Fleet spokesman Lieutenant junior grade Luka Bakic in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe United States challenges excessive maritime claims around the world regardless of the identity of the claimant,\u201d Bakic added.
\nChina\u2019s Ministry of National Defense responded by accusing the US of \u201cundermining the peace and stability of the South China Sea\u201d with its actions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe act of the US military seriously violated China\u2019s sovereignty and security, severely breached international laws, and is more ironclad evidence of the US pursuing navigation hegemony and militarizing the South China Sea,\u201d ministry spokesman Tan Kefei said. \u201cWe solemnly request that the US. Immediately stop such actions of provocation, otherwise it will bear the serious consequences of unexpected incidents caused by this.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said China would take \u201call necessary measures\u201d to ensure its security but did not elaborate.<\/p>\n
Like its statement on the Thursday incident, China again said it drove the American ship away from the islands, which are in the South China Sea a few hundred kilometers (miles) off the coast of Vietnam and the Chinese province of Hainan.<\/p>\n
Both sides said their actions were justified under international law.
\nBakic told The Associated Press that the ship \u201cwas not driven away\u201d and \u201ccontinued on to conduct routine maritime security operations in international waters\u201d after concluding its mission near the Paracel Islands.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe operation reflects our commitment to uphold freedom of navigation and lawful uses of the sea for all nations,\u201d he said. \u201cThe United States will continue to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, as Milius did today.\u201d<\/p>\n
The US has no South China Sea claims itself, but has deployed Naval and Air Force assets for decades to patrol the strategic waterway, through which around $5 trillion in global trade transits each year and which holds highly valuable fish stocks and undersea mineral resources.<\/p>\n
A United Nations-backed arbitration tribunal ruled in 2016 that the historical claim from China on the waters had no legal basis under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Seas, and Washington maintains that freedom of navigation and overflight of the waterway are in the American national interest.<\/p>\n
US forces currently operate in the South China Sea daily, and have been present for more than a century. China regularly responds angrily, accusing the US of meddling in Asian affairs and impinging upon its sovereignty.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s claims have frequently brought it into conflict with other nations in the region as well, and Filipino diplomats were expected to unleash a slew of protests on Friday over China\u2019s recent targeting of a Philippine coast guard ship with a powerful military laser and other aggressive behavior.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BANGKOK 24 Mar (Online): China threatened \u201cserious consequences\u201d Friday after the US Navy sailed a destroyer around the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea for the second day in a row, in a move Beijing claimed was a violation of its sovereignty and […]<\/p>\n
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