China is said to be driving a US destroyer out of its territorial waters – but the US denies it. Incidents keep happening in the region.
Munich/Beijing – Another incident appears to have occurred in the South China Sea amid rising tensions between China and the United States. China’s military said Thursday that the US destroyer USS Milius had “illegally” entered Chinese territorial waters and “disrupted peace and stability in the region.” The warship had been “warned” to “leave” the area, according to the PLA’s Southern Territorial Command. China will “take all necessary measures to resolutely defend national sovereignty and security, as well as peace and stability in the South China Sea region,” it said.
The US, on the other hand, said China’s claims were “false”. The USS Milius “is conducting routine operations in the South China Sea and has not been deported,” a spokesman for the US Indo-Pacific Command told AFP. “The United States will continue to fly, ship and operate wherever international law allows,” he added.
Incidents keep happening in the South China Sea
According to China’s People’s Liberation Army, the incident happened near the Paracel Islands, which are controlled by China; however, Taiwan and Vietnam also lay claim to the archipelago, which lies around 330 km southeast of the Chinese island of Hainan.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea for itself. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam also lay claim to parts of the sea area, which is of enormous strategic and economic importance for the neighboring countries. Beijing is also fueling the territorial conflict by piling up artificial islands and building military installations there. Neighboring countries also accuse Chinese ships of harassing fishing boats.
Most recently, at the end of February, there was a spectacular showdown between a US Navy aircraft and a Chinese fighter jet in the region, which was documented by a team of reporters from the US television channel CNN, who were on board the US plane.
China feels surrounded by the US
The US considers Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea to be illegal and uses military vessels to navigate the area to assert freedom of navigation in international waters. The US also maintains several military bases in the region. In the Philippines, Washington will soon be given access to four more military bases, as US Secretary of Defense Austin and his Philippine counterpart Carlito Galvez agreed in early February. The US would then have access to a total of nine bases in the country. China therefore feels increasingly surrounded by the United States.
The region is also of great strategic importance with regard to a possible escalation of the Taiwan conflict. China regards the democratically governed Taiwan as a breakaway province and threatens to “reunify” it, using force if necessary. The USA is therefore supporting the government in Taipei with weapons and has promised Taiwan that it will provide military support in the event of a Chinese attack. (sh/AFP)
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