US destroyer backs up Biden’s tough words in South China Sea
A United States Navy warship sailed near disputed Beijing-controlled islands in the South China Sea on Thursday just hours after US President Joe Biden said the US must protect open access to the waterway.
The guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur performed what the US Navy calls a “freedom of navigation” operation near the Paracel Islands, asserting “navigational rights and freedoms… consistent with international law,” Lt. j.g. Nicholas Lingo, spokesperson for the US 7th Fleet, said in a statement.
China calls the Paracels, in the northwestern portion of the South China Sea, the Xisha Islands. They have been under Beijing’s control for more than four decades despite competing claims from Vietnam and Taiwan and China has fortified them with military installations.
The guided missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur sails into Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, China, 21 November 2018. [Jerome Favre/EPA/EFE]
China accused the United States on Wednesday of threatening the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait after a U.S. warship again sailed through the sensitive waterway that separates Taiwan from its giant neighbour.
The U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet said the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur conducted a “routine Taiwan Strait transit” on Tuesday in accordance with international law.
“The ship’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The United States military will continue to fly, sail, and operate anywhere international law allows,” it said.
This freedom of navigation operation (“FONOP”) upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international law by challenging the unlawful restrictions on innocent passage imposed by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam and also by challenging China’s claim to strait baselines enclosing the Paracel Islands. SOUTH CHINA SEA (May 20, 2021) The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54) conducts routine operations in the South China Sea. Curtis Wilbur is assigned to Commander, Task Force 71/Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15, the Navy’s largest forward DESRON and the U.S. 7th Fleet’s principal surface force. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Zenaida Roth)
South China Sea has emerged as one of many flashpoints in the testy Sino-US relations, with Washington rejecting what it has called unlawful territorial claims asserted by Beijing in the resources-rich waters.
2021-05-20 HKT 15:14 Share this story
Beijing said the USS Curtis Wilbur, a guided missile destroyer, was warned and driven away from the contested waters near the islands. Image: Shutterstock China on Thursday branded the United States an out-and-out security risk creator in the South China Sea, after an American warship sailed through waters near the disputed Spratly Islands.
Tensions in maritime waters claimed by both China and many of its neighbours have ratcheted up recently, with Beijing staging live-fire drills and sending hundreds of fishing vessels to a reef claimed by the Philippines.
China s military said the USS Curtis Wilbur, a guided missile destroyer, was warned and driven away from the contested waters near the islands, which are claimed by China.