China Condemns US for sending warship near Paracel Island

Yang described the act as “unprofessional and irresponsible”, and said it “severely violated Chinese law, sabotaged the peace, security and good order of the waters, and undermined the region’s peace and stability”.

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China claims virtually all of the South China Sea, while the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have partial claims.

Hua did not elaborate on what kind of warnings the Chinese had made to the US warship, or if Chinese vessels followed the Curtis Wilbur as it sailed inside the 12-mile zone around the island, which China claims as its territory.

Vietnam respects harmless travel complying with worldwide rules, Foreign Minister spokesman Le Hai Binh said in comments on the government website yesterday.

The U.S. FONOP in the area was created to counter two aspects of China (and Vietnam’s) claims: the requirement for foreign warships to seek prior authorization before transiting near the feature, and the way territorial baselines are drawn around the Paracels.

Senior Col. Yang Yujun, a defense ministry spokesman, said Chinese naval forces and troops guarding the island had identified the US ship and warned it to leave the area immediately, according to a statement on the ministry’s website.

It is for this reason that China has taken a detached stance this time, saying, “Safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as safeguarding the overall interests of the Chinese nation are the common responsibility and obligation of compatriots across the strait”.

Harris again lashed out at Chinese land reclamation, claiming: “They [China] will control the South China Sea against all the militaries out there with the exception of the USA military in all scenarios short of war”.

BEIJING, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) – As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry raised “concerns” about the South China Sea during his Asia tour, he may have been unaware of one thing: the U.S. meddling in the issue is an ill-considered move, which could boomerang and escalate regional tensions.

But he said Beijing would be cautious to avoid being seen as provoking confrontation.

Retired Navy Capt. Jim Fanell, former Pacific Fleet intelligence chief, said Saturday’s operation was “a strategically important event that unambiguously demonstrates the continued resolve of the United States to challenge the unilateral actions of China’s maritime sovereignty campaign in the South China Sea”.

Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou (C) reads a document on a C-130 airplane on the way to the disputed Itu Aba or Taiping island in the South China Sea, January 28, 2016. “The US claims to be a bystander, but judging from its recent warship and aircraft activities, it is a bystander too eager to become involved”, it alleged.

He went ahead with the visit this time, probably because he wanted it to be considered a political “achievement” as his term of office ends in May. “Compromising sovereignty and security of another country under the name of freedom has lost its facade”, the article said.

In addition, this situation forms part of the wider picture of China’s gradual rise as a world power, and the only credible challenger to U.S. hegemony.

As The Diplomat previously reported, the United States has conducted a second freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) within 12 nautical miles of a disputed island in the South China Sea.

China strongly condemned the United States after a USA warship deliberately sailed near one of the Beijing-controlled islands in the hotly contested South China Sea to exercise freedom of navigation and challenge China’s vast territorial claims.