China seethes as US warship sails by disputed reef

BEIJING: China on Wednesday deployed fighter jets and lashed out at the US, calling it the “biggest destroyer of peace”, after an American warship sailed past a reef close to the Spratly Islands in the disputed waters of the South China Sea (SCS).

The US navy’s destroyer USS Benfold sailed past Mischief Reef, located close to Spratly Islands, known as Nansha in China, on Wednesday, saying it was part of a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP).

Beijing claims nearly the entire SCS including the Spratly Islands, but several of its maritime neighbours including The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei have competing claims over the islands and reefs. In July 2016, an international tribunal in The Hague rejected China’s “nine-dash line” claim in the SCS.

The ring-shaped Mischief Reef is located some 250km from The Philippines coast.

It was reported in 2017 that China had built several military installations on the Spratly Islands including on the Mischief Reef to bolster its claim.

“On September 8, USS Benfold (DDG 65) asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the Spratly Islands, consistent with international law. This FONOP upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea. USS Benfold demonstrated that Mischief Reef, a low-tide elevation in its natural state, is not entitled to a territorial sea under international law,” Mark Langford, deputy public affairs officer of US 7th Fleet, said in a statement.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) southern theatre command’s spokesperson, Tian Junli, said the operation was carried out without China’s approval. “The US’s serious violation of China’s sovereignty and security is another ironclad evidence of its aggressive navigation hegemony and militarisation of the South China Sea,” Tian said.