China, US spat over warship near reef
CHINA accused the US of trespassing yesterday after an American warship sailed near a South China Sea reef claimed by Beijing in the first such operation by President Donald Trump’s administration in the disputed area.
The row comes during a period of warming relations between the countries, with Trump saying that Washington has dialled down pressure on Beijing 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.
“The action taken by the US vessel undermines China’s sovereignty and security interests, and is very likely to cause sea and air accidents,” he said, urging Washington to stop provocative action.
The USS Dewey sailed less than 12 nautical miles from Mischief Reef, a US official said, 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 counter claims from Taiwan and several southeast Asian nations, including the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.
It has rapidly built reefs into artificial islands capable of hosting military planes.
The US has challenged annexations of these islets and advocated a diplomatic settlement to the disputes.
Pentagon spokesman Major Jamie Davis said US forces operated in the South China Sea on a daily basis and would fly and sail wherever international law allowed.
The exercises were not about any one country, nor were they about making political statements, he said.
The US operation came a week after the Pentagon said that Chinese jets conducted an unprofessional intercept of a US radiation sniffing plane.
China denied the accusation, with the defence ministry saying yesterday that “the close reconnaissance activities conducted by US military ships and planes towards China are the root cause of the security issues between China and the US over the sea and in the air”.
Since meeting President Xi Jinping in April, Trump, who once accused China of raping the US, has praised its leader as a good man. – AFP
The action taken by the US vessel undermines China’s sovereignty