Expel US Destroyer From Its Waters, China: Stop Provocations

United States destroyer USS Benfold (DDG-65). (Wikimedia Commons/United States Navy/Journalist 1st Class James Pinsky)

JAKARTA - China's military authorities announced that they had successfully expelled a US warship on Monday, July 12 local time, marking the anniversary of an international court ruling that rejected China's historical claim to the South China Sea.

In a statement, China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command said a US destroyer warship illegally entered Chinese waters near the Paracel Islands, Monday, July 12.

The destroyer USS Benfold (DDG-65) entered waters without China's approval, seriously violating sovereignty and destabilizing the South China Sea, the PLA's Southern Theater Command said.

"We urge the United States to immediately stop such provocative actions," the PLA's Southern Theater Command said.

For your information, on July 12, 2016, the Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands ruled that China had no historic rights to the South China Sea, a decision Beijing rejected and ignored.

Meanwhile, the US Navy in its official statement said the presence of the USS Benfold (DDG-65) confirmed the rights of navigation and freedom around the Paracel Islands, in accordance with international law.

Illustration of the Paracel Islands region. (Wikimedia Commons/Swaminathan)

The islands are claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam, which require permission or advance notice before a military ship passes through.

"Under international law as reflected in the Convention on the Law of the Sea, ships of all nations, including their warships, enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea," the US Navy said.

"By engaging in peaceful crossings without giving advance notice or seeking permission from one of the claimants, the United States is challenging unlawful restrictions imposed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam," the statement continued.

Meanwhile, hundreds of other islands, coral reefs and atolls in the resource-rich waterway are contested by Brunei, China, Malaysia and the Philippines, with China claiming rights to the resources within the so-called Nine-Dash Line, or large swathes of territory.

"By conducting this operation, the United States demonstrates that these waters fall outside of what China can legitimately claim as its territorial sea, and that China's claimed straight baselines around the Paracel Islands are inconsistent with international law," the Navy said. .

Yesterday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasized that the freedom of the sea is the 'eternal' interest of all countries.

"No rules-based maritime order is under greater threat than in the South China Sea," Blinken said in a statement.

"The People's Republic of China continues to coerce and intimidate Southeast Asian littoral states, threatening freedom of navigation on this critical global path," he concluded.