China, US trade barbs over destroyer passage near disputed shoal
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The Chinese military’s Southern Theatre Command said the USS Higgins had entered the waters “without approval of the Chinese government”.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
BEIJING – China’s military said on Aug 13 that it monitored and “drove away” a US destroyer that sailed near the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the busy waterway of the South China Sea, while the US Navy said its action was in line with international law.
The first known US military operation in at least six years within the shoal’s waters came a day after the Philippines accused Chinese vessels
In a statement, the Chinese military’s Southern Theatre Command said the USS Higgins had entered the waters “without approval of the Chinese government” on Aug 13.
“The US move seriously violated China’s sovereignty and security, severely undermined peace and stability in the South China Sea,” it added, vowing to keep a “high alert at all times”.
In response, the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet said “China’s statement about this mission is false”, adding that the Higgins “asserted navigational rights and freedoms” near the Scarborough Shoal “consistent with international law”.
The operation reflected the US commitment to uphold freedom of navigation and lawful uses of the sea, it told Reuters in an e-mailed statement.
“The United States is defending its right to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, as USS Higgins did here. Nothing China says otherwise will deter us.”
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, despite overlapping claims by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
The US regularly carries out “freedom of navigation” operations in the South China Sea, challenging what it says are curbs on passage imposed by China and other claimants.
The Scarborough Shoal has been a major source of tension in the South China Sea, a conduit for more than US$3 trillion (S$3.8 trillion) of annual ship-borne commerce.
The actions of Chinese vessels in the shoal this week also resulted in a collision of two of them, Manila said, the first such known in the area.
The Philippine Coast Guard on Aug 13 said the objective of the two Chinese vessels was to “completely block” it from getting near Scarborough Shoal.
China’s coast guard said it had taken “necessary measures” to expel Philippine vessels from the waters.
In 2016, an international arbitral tribunal ruled there was no basis in international law for Beijing’s claims based on its historic maps. China, however, does not recognise that decision. REUTERS
