The United States (US) Navy on Tuesday dismissed China’s discontent over a “freedom of navigation operation” it conducted near the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea (SCS), which Beijing asserts was “illegal.”
According to a statement released by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Southern Theater Command, a guided-missile cruiser, the USS Chancellorsville, “trespassed into the waters adjacent to islands and reefs of China’s Nansha Islands” on Tuesday “without the approval” from Beijing. China refers to the archipelago as Nansha.
🇺🇸–🇯🇵–🇦🇺
— U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (@INDOPACOM) November 22, 2022
@USPacificFleet’s #USSChancellorsville conducts trilateral operations with @jmsdf_pao_eng’s #JSSetogiri and @Australian_Navy’s #HMASStalwart in the #PhilippineSea in support of a #FreeAndOpenIndoPacific.
📸: MC2 Justin Stack pic.twitter.com/I4pcLfnicf
In response to the provocation, Air Force Senior Colonel Tian Junli, a spokesperson of the PLA’s Southern Theater Command, said that the Chinese military “organised air and naval forces to track, monitor and warn it off.”
Tian alleged that the USS Chancellorsville’s manoeuvre was “illegal” and “seriously violated China’s sovereignty and security.” He said it “served as a new irrefutable proof of the US military’s practice of navigation hegemony and militarisation of the SCS” and also “fully demonstrated that the US is a complete risk-maker for the security of the SCS.”
The PLA officer reiterated Beijing’s claim that China possesses “indisputable sovereignty” over the islands as well as their “adjacent waters.”
Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) conducts routine underway operations in the South China Sea, Nov. 29, 2022. Chancellorsville is forward-deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of a #FreeandOpenIndoPacific . pic.twitter.com/qtfLor8yuc
— U.S. Forces Japan (@USForcesJapan) November 30, 2022
“The troops under the Southern Theater Command have always been keeping on high alert and will resolutely safeguard China’s national sovereignty and security, as well as peace and stability in the SCS,” the spokesperson concluded.
Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General (Gen.) Pat Ryder, however, dismissed China’s claims during a press briefing later that day.
Confirming that the US warship “was in the SCS near the Spratly Islands” that day, Gen. Ryder said that the US military had simply “asserted” its “navigational rights and freedoms under international law.”
UPDATE 1358 local: The PRC's statement about this mission is false. USS Chancellorsville conducted this FONOP in accordance with international law and then continued on to conduct normal operations in waters where high seas freedoms apply.
— 7th Fleet (@US7thFleet) November 29, 2022
Read more here:https://t.co/L6KQIZBdWp
He also dismissed claims that “China essentially ejected [the US’] ship from the areas.”
“That is not true, again, will continue to sail, fly and operate wherever international law allows,” he declared.
The US Navy also released a statement claiming that Beijing’s “statement about this mission is false.”
It emphasised that the USS Chancellorsville “continued on to conduct normal operations in waters where high seas freedoms apply.”
Ensuring a #FreeandOpenIndoPacific ⚓ #USSChancellorsville (CG 62) conducted Freedom of Navigation Operations in the #SouthChinaSea in accordance with international law, Nov. 29.
— U.S. Navy (@USNavy) November 29, 2022
Read the story here: https://t.co/JKXAVdUDHr
“The operation reflects our continued commitment to uphold freedom of navigation and lawful uses of the sea as a principle. The United States is defending every nation’s right to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, as USS Chancellorsville did here,” it said.
“Nothing the PRC says otherwise will deter us,” the Navy concluded.
Following similar incidents in the past, the PLA has accused the US of being the “biggest destroyer” of regional safety and stability and has warned Washington to “immediately stop such provocative actions, otherwise it will bear the serious consequences of unforeseen events.”
However, the US Navy has argued that “under international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention, the ships of all states, including their warships, enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea.”
#USNavy Photos of the Day:
— U.S. Navy (@USNavy) November 30, 2022
1️⃣ #USSNimitz transits Puget Sound @KitsapNavy
2️⃣ #USSChancellorsville underway in South China Sea
3️⃣ @ItalianNavy helps @GHWBCVN77 transit #StraitofMessina
4️⃣ @POTUS Thanksgiving call to #USSPaulIgnatius @USNavyEurope
👉 https://t.co/aZddB6hxYf pic.twitter.com/LWrZK5eUPN
On this basis, the US Navy frequently carries out such missions in the SCS to challenge Chinese territorial claims.
The Spratly Islands archipelago is also claimed by Vietnam; however, China considers them to be an “inherent territory of China.”
The US State Department has previously accused China of pursuing “a reckless and provocative militarization” of the disputed outposts in the Spratly Islands, arguing that Beijing has gone back on its previous commitment to not do so.
However, Beijing has argued that its actions in the Spratlys have been in line with international law.
US Vice President Kamala Harris also reaffirmed during her trip to the Palawan Islands in the Philippines earlier this month that Washington would protest “irresponsible behaviour” in the South China Sea.
“We must stand up for principles such as respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, unimpeded lawful commerce, the peaceful resolution of disputes, and the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, and throughout the Indo-Pacific,” she said in her address.
China claims that almost all of the SCS, through which around $5 trillion in global trade transits annually, is its own territory.
An international tribunal ruled in 2016 that the nine-dash line has no merit. However, the ruling is not binding and China has not abided by the verdict.