The Chinese military said it “tracked, warned and expelled” an American missile destroyer from the waters around the disputed Paracel Islands on Friday, shortly before the U.S. Navy said one of its ships had challenged China’s sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea.
China’s Southern Theater Command said the USS Halsey “illegally intruded” into the territorial waters around archipelago, which Beijing calls Xiasha and administers as part of its southernmost province of Hainan.
Col. Tian Junli, a military spokesperson, accused the United States of “a serious infringement of China’s sovereignty and security,” calling the geopolitical rival “the biggest destroyer of peace” in the region.
“The PRC’s statement about this mission is false,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Seventh Fleet told Newsweek, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
The Halsey conducted a freedom of navigation operation, or FONOP, “in accordance with international law and then continued on to conduct normal operations in waters beyond the territorial sea. The operation reflects our commitment to uphold freedom of navigation and lawful uses of the sea as a principle,” the statement said.
“The United States is defending every nation’s right to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, as USS Halsey did here. Nothing the PRC says otherwise will deter us,” the spokesperson said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Ismael Martinez
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.