A U.S. Navy destroyer sailed near islands claimed by China in
the South China Sea on Wednesday, the U.S. military said, a move that Beijing
condemned as an illegal attempt by Washington at “maritime hegemony”.
The busy waterway is one of a growing number of flashpoints in
the U.S.-Chinese relationship, which include an escalating trade war, American
sanctions on China’s military, and U.S. relations with Taiwan.
Earlier, China had denied a
request for a U.S. Navy warship to visit the port city of Qingdao.
The U.S. Navy vessel Wayne E.
Meyer, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, carried out the
operation, traveling within 12 nautical miles (14 miles/22 km) of Fiery Cross
and Mischief Reefs, Commander Reann Mommsen, a spokeswoman for the Japan-based
U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet, said.
The operation was conducted
“to challenge excessive maritime claims and preserve access to the waterways as
governed by international law,” Mommsen said.
The U.S. military operation
comes amid an increasingly bitter trade war between China and the United States
that sharply escalated on Friday, with both sides leveling more tariffs on each
other’s exports.
The U.S. military has a long-standing position that its
operations are carried out worldwide, including in areas claimed by allies, and
are separate from political considerations.
Chinese military spokesman Li
Huamin said in a statement early on Thursday that the U.S. vessel had
encroached upon Chinese territorial waters near the Spratly Islands without the
government’s permission and had been warned to leave.
“The facts prove that the
United States’ so-called ‘freedom of navigation’ is actually an assertion of
maritime hegemony that ignores international law, seriously harms China’s
sovereignty and security interests, and seriously harms peace and stability in the
South China Sea region,” Li said.
“We urge the U.S. side to
immediately stop such kinds of provocative acts, to avoid causing unexpected
incidents.”
China and the United States
have traded barbs in the past over what Washington has said is Beijing’s militarization
of the South China Sea by building military installations on artificial islands
and reefs in disputed waters.
China’s claims in the South
China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes each
year, are contested by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Beijing says its construction
is necessary for self-defense and that the United States is responsible for
ratcheting up tensions by sending warships and military planes close to islands
that Beijing claims.