The US Navy denied what Beijing announced that it had intercepted a US destroyer in a disputed area in the China Sea, in the first incident since President Joe Biden assumed his duties.
China had announced that its navy had ordered a US warship to leave the region. The Chinese military said that the US destroyer USS John McCain entered “the territorial waters of the Sheesha Islands without permission,” referring to the islands known as the Paracel Islands, the small archipelago of small atolls.
The Chinese army added in a brief statement that “the navy and air forces monitored the situation closely and ordered (the American ship) to leave the region,” condemning the United States “for seriously violating Chinese sovereignty and threatening regional peace.”
But the spokesman for the US Pacific Fleet, Lieutenant James Adam, said that the destroyer John McCain “had never been expelled from the territory of any other country.”
He added that “the American destroyer carried out this operation, which falls within the framework of freedom of navigation in accordance with international law, and then continued its normal operations in international waters.”
Beijing asserts its sovereignty over almost all the islands in the South China Sea, and complains about US naval operations in the region, which is an arena for an influence struggle with Washington.
China considers the sailing of foreign ships in these waters a violation of its sovereignty, while the United States and other countries see that this area is international waters, and therefore open to all.
Neighboring countries such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam are objecting to China’s claims in the region, which is a major international trade route.
On Thursday, Beijing condemned the passage of this American destroyer through the sea port separating Taiwan from mainland China.
Source: AFP
