A US warship sailed near a disputed island in the South China Sea claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam on Sunday in an operation meant to challenge the competing claims of all three nations, a U.S. Defense Department official said.
The USS Stethem, a guided-missile destroyer, sailed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island, part of the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, the official said.
The operation was first reported by Fox News on Sunday.
It was the second “freedom-of-navigation operation,” or “fonop,” conducted during the presidency of Donald Trump, following a drill in late May in which a U.S. warship sailed within 12 nautical miles of an artificial island built up by China in the South China Sea.
China called the operation “serious political and military provocation,” according to the official Xinhua News Agency, citing a statement on Sunday by Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang. China sent ships and fighter planes to warn off the Stethem, Lu said, according to the report.
Twelve nautical miles marks the territorial limits recognised internationally. Sailing within those 12 miles is meant to show that the United States does not recognise territorial claims there.
“Unlike in the Spratlys, where China has created new artificial territory in the last several years, it has effectively controlled the Paracels since 1974,” said Mira Rapp-Hooper, a South China Sea expert at the Center for a New American Security. “It claims illegal straight baselines around the Paracels, and the fonop may have been contesting these.”
Trump has heaped praise on Chinese President Xi Jinping, but his administration has also stepped up pressure on Beijing as he has become frustrated that China has not done more to pressure North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs.
On Thursday, the administration imposed sanctions on two Chinese citizens and a shipping company for helping North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, and accused a Chinese bank of laundering money for Pyongyang.
The Trump administration has also approved an arms package for Taiwan worth about $1.4 billion, the State Department said last week. China deems Taiwan its own and has never renounced the use of force to bring the self-ruled island under its control.
Trump was due to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday, ahead of meetings he will hold with both leaders on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, next Friday and Saturday.
Nuking China is inevitable
What a surprise, Vietnamese has same kind of inferior complex as Indians.
Jo Snow He is a troll posing as an Vietnamese to confuse the issue. Similarly for all the fake Indians, Filipinos, French, etc and even some fake chinese making inflammatory and degatory comments. It is part of CIA operational strategies.
Carrying FON in Chinese territorial water not only provocative but also irresponsible. The world need stability and cooperation in the face of mounting conflict in North Asia, middle East, and north Africa. One might ask does showing gung ho like this bring prosperity or instead bringing the world one step closer to a thermal nuclear war. The world should stop chicken hawks from ruining the life of innocent people.
Where is "Chinese territorial waters"? The Americans were sailing in international waters, not in Chinese territorial waters.
The US is trying to reestablish world order in the region. After WWII, the US has established a security system in the Far East to promote peace and encourage trade resulting in prosperity in the region which the US also benefits. China too has benefited hugely from that security system and been busy building up its economy to become world’s second largest.
In an ideal world, people would love to see China continue on this road and contribute to world economy but unfortunately arrogant chinese leaders have been plotting to usurp US leadership and build its own empire. They have enlisted the help of the idiot Henry Kissinger and paid him handsomely to sell out the Republic of South Vietnam and allow China to invade and seize the Paracels under the nose the 7th fleet which was ordered to stand by and watching.
China then went on the build artificial islands in the Spratly whilst Vietnam was too weak to act and the US was silent under the inefficient Obama administration. China was planning to build another island base at the Scarborough shoal near the Philippines but was told in no uncertain terms by the US which has drawn a red line, that has made China to stop any land reclamation for now. Strategically, the Paracels, the Spratly and the Scarborough shoal form an triangle that would be perfect for China to build radars and missile systems that control the entirety of the SCS, something the US is aware off and will decide the time to act.
Vietnam has never renounced the Paracels and hope it can recover the islands one day. For that Vietnam needs the US on its side but it has to overcome a dilemma as a former Commie leader put it: to get too close to China it risks losing the country, but to work closely with US it risks subversion, regime change and loss of the party.
Fortunately the US has made it clear it doesn’t care which regime is in power in Vietnam, it only cares about the US interest. Vietnam is now working hand in hand with US to thwart China’s attempt to turn the SCS into a chinese lake. Vietnam possesses an ace, whoever control Cam Ranh base will control the whole Southeast Asia. In the next few years, Vietnam will allow the US to base its fleet here when 60% of the US world fleet will be relocated to Asia Pacific. China has spent billions of dollars to dredge and create artificial islands in the Spratly, that effort will come to nought when the US Navy has access to Cam Ranh base some 400km away.
Remember, the Mongol empire stretching from China to the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Russia, but it could not extend to Southeast Asia because it hit a road block in Vietnam. Vietnamese people have fought valiantly and cleverly and are proud of that heroic period in their history.
LOL, Chinese Imaginary territories? USA is doing the right thing by challenging Chinese illegal occupation of atolls.
Disputants in the South China Sea dispute should ask China: Why China does not claim sovereignty over the seas closer to Chinese shores? If you don’t own territories closer to home how can you own territories faraway?
Low Shen-Cheang
You must be Malaysian chinese, if I’m correct. At the end of the Ming dynasty in the 18th century, when the Tang dynasty took over, there was some unrest or upheaval, just like when Saigon fell in 1975, that caused a wave of chinese to leave the country by boat to seek safety and make a new life in neighboring Asian countries. Some have landed in Vietnam, some in Malaysia or Indonesia. They were Ming refugees who have enjoyed hospitality in Asian countries, have merged into the local population and should not have anything to do with China anymore. Their loyalty is with their adopted countries, not China. I’d suggest you refrain from repeating chinese propaganda. Beijing’s commie agents or agitators had used overseas chinese to stir up trouble in Southeast Asian countries resulting in pogrom against chinese in Indonesia. There was a commie insurgency in Malaysia linked to local chinese that had to be put down by the British. Let’s hope overseas chinese keep enjoying their new life and refrain from propagating Beijing’s agenda.
The Triton island the US warship just sailed within 12 miles is just a sand bank belonging to the group of islands known as the Paracels. The US wants to send a message that it doesn’t recognize Chinese sovereignty. Artificial islands built by China in the Spratly do not qualify the 12 nautical miles rule.
Tranvan Thomas —Tang Dynasty is older than the Ming Dynasty. Tang ran from 618 AD to 910 AD, while Ming ran from 1368 AD to 1644 AD.
NOBODY DARES TO TRUST YOUR vaCHINA..THE TRANS-TRANSGRESSOR,BULLIES,ROBBERS OF THE FONOP,STEALER OF TECH etc,vaCHINA CAN NOT FOOL THE WORLD BY PLAYING GOOD SAMARITAN IN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY WHILE PLAYING A BEAST THAT ATTACK IT;S PREY – THE SMALLER NEIGHBORING SEA COUNTRIES.STOP vaCHINANIZATION OF ASIA AS WHAT THEY CLAIM THAT EAST ASIA IS ALSO vaCHINA;S SOVEREIGN TERRITORIES.
Wood Wu
What is the name of the dynasty that follows Ming? It’s translated in Vietnamese as "Thanh" dynasty like Xi Jinping is translated as Tap Can Binh in Vietnamese. It is under "Thanh" dynasty that they’ve agreed with the name Viet Nam which is being used today. Previously China called its southern neighbor An Nam.