US warship sails by SCS reef claimed by Beijing

CHINA yesterday accused the US of trespassing after an American warship sailed near a reef claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea, the first such operation by President Donald Trump’s administration in the disputed waterway.

The row comes during a period of warming relations between the countries with Trump saying that Washington has dialed down pressure on Beijing over other issues in hopes of securing their cooperation on North Korea.

The guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey entered the area “without permission from the Chinese government”, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said, adding the ship had “trespassed in the waters near the relevant islands and reefs”.

“The relevant action taken by the US vessel undermines China’s sovereignty and security interests, and is very likely to cause unexpected sea and air accidents,” he said.

The USS Dewey sailed less than 12 nautical miles from Mischief Reef – part of the Spratly Islands, a US official said earlier, the first freedom of navigation operation under Trump. The UN says nations can establish the breadth of their territorial sea up to a limit of 12 nautical miles.

China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, despite partial counterclaims from Taiwan and several Southeast Asian nations. It has rapidly built reefs into artificial islands capable of hosting military planes. The US has challenged annexations of these islets and advocated for a diplomatic settlement to the disputes.

Speaking earlier in the day, Pentagon spokesman Major Jamie Davis said US forces operate in the South China Sea on a daily basis and will fly and sail “wherever international law” allows.

“We have a comprehensive Freedom of Navigation Operations program that seeks to challenge excessive maritime claims in order to preserve the rights, freedoms, and uses of the sea and airspace guaranteed to all nations under international law,” Davis said.

The exercises are “not about any one country, nor are they about making political statements,” he added.

James Char, a China analyst at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, said the manoeuvre was just the US signalling that it is a “credible strategic guarantor to its allies” in the region. “For now, I do not see this as a sign marking the end of the goodwill cultivated between Trump and Xi,” Char said.