The U.S. destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur DDG-54 recently passed through the Taiwan Strait and entered the waters of the Xisha Islands. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense said last night that this is a serious provocative action of a very bad nature, which China firmly opposes and strongly condemns. The Chinese Southern Theater even said that it immediately organized naval and air forces to track and monitor the ship and warned it to “drive away”, but the U.S. Seventh Fleet Command issued a rare statement to the face of the Communist forces, stressing that the USS Weiper was not “driven away” from any country’s territory.
The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Weibull recently passed through the Taiwan Strait and entered the waters of the Xisha Islands. (Photo/reproduced from the U.S. Seventh Fleet)
The U.S. Navy destroyer “USS Wieber” passed through the Taiwan Strait on the 18th and sailed to the South China Sea to the waters near the Xisha Islands on the 20th, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesman Tan Kefei said on the evening of the 20th, “the frequent passage of U.S. warships through the Taiwan Strait, showing off force, creating crises, to ‘Taiwan independence ‘ separatist forces, which is a very irresponsible and dangerous act and is tantamount to ‘playing with fire’.”
Subsequently the Communist Army’s Eastern and Southern War Zones issued a statement in quick succession afterwards, saying that they had organized naval and air forces to follow and warn and drive away the U.S. ship in accordance with the law.
However, the U.S. Seventh Fleet official website issued a statement on the 20th said that the destroyer USS WEIBER, in accordance with international law, conducted a free navigation mission near the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea, both to challenge the Chinese Communist Party’s claims to the South China Sea and to uphold the rights recognized by international law and the legitimate use of the sea. The statement noted that the CCP’s illegal and extensive maritime claims in the South China Sea seriously threaten the freedom of the seas.
In addition, the communist forces claimed to have sent naval and air forces to track and monitor the aircraft and to warn them to drive them away. The Seventh Fleet Command refuted the statement, emphasizing that the destroyer USS Weiper was not “expelled” from any country’s territory, and noted that U.S. military operations in the area uphold the legitimate use of the sea under international law, while U.S. forces’ legitimate maritime operations are being misrepresented by the Communist Party. The statement said the U.S. military’s actions in the region uphold the legitimate use of the sea under international law. The statement said the Communist Party’s actions stand in stark contrast to the U.S. position of compliance with international law and the U.S. vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
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