A U.S. warship sailed into the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, near what China calls the Xisha Islands. Both sides have accused the other of acting in violation of international law.
The U.S. Seventh Fleet said in a statement that on May 20, local time, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur entered the vicinity of the Paracel Islands without prior notice to the countries involved and conducted a freedom of navigation operation to challenge illegal restrictions on innocent passage by China, Taiwan and Vietnam. The statement said that international law does not permit any country to make a claim of sovereignty over the Paracel Islands. The statement said international law does not allow any country to unilaterally impose any requirements such as prior notification or prior approval for innocent passage.
The Seventh Fleet statement said the United States will continue to act to protect the rights and freedoms of all nations as long as some nations continue to make maritime claims that are inconsistent with international law and set unlawful regulations on those rights and freedoms.
The USS Wilbur, a guided-missile destroyer, illegally intruded into China’s Xisha territorial waters without the approval of the Chinese government, and the PLA organized naval and air forces to track and monitor the ship and warn it off, said Air Force Senior Colonel Tian Junli, a spokesman for China’s southern war zone, in a statement May 20. The statement said the U.S. military’s move is to engage in navigational hegemony and misleading public opinion, seriously infringing on China’s sovereignty and security and undermining regional peace and stability, and that China’s southern war zone forces are always on high alert to resolutely defend national sovereignty and security and regional peace and stability.
Two days ago, the destroyer USS Wilbur passed through the Taiwan Strait.
The U.S. Seventh Fleet later said in a statement, “The passage of this warship through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region. The U.S. military will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows.”
The Chinese military said the U.S. warship’s passage through the Taiwan Strait “sends the wrong signal, deliberately interferes with and undermines the regional situation and jeopardizes peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
Since President Biden took office in January, U.S. warships have publicly crossed the Taiwan Strait several times and have conducted numerous Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOP) in the South China Sea.
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