A US Navy guided-missile cruiser sailed near the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea on Tuesday in the latest US challenge to Beijing’s claims in the region.
China’s military said that the vessel, the USS Chancellorsville, entered the area illegally, a claim disputed by the US Navy. “The actions of the US military seriously violated China’s sovereignty and security,” China’s People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Southern Theater Command said in a statement.
The US Navy’s Seventh Fleet said the PLA’s statement was “false” and insisted the passage followed international law. The US has been challenging China’s claims to disputed rocks and reefs in the South China Sea for years in maneuvers it calls Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs).
FONOPs in the region became common under the Obama administration and have stepped up as the US is increasingly focused on confronting China. The Seventh Fleet insisted that Tuesday’s passage was not just a challenge to China but also to Vietnam and Taiwan, who also have claims to the region.
The Seventh Fleet said the FONOP was meant to challenge “restrictions on innocent passage imposed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Vietnam, and Taiwan.”
The FONOP came not long after Vice President Kamala Harris visited the Philippines and reaffirmed that an attack on Philippine vessels in the South China Sea would invoke a US response under the US-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty. Harris also took aim at China in a speech she delivered aboard a Philippine coast guard vessel on the island of Palawan, which has a coast on the South China Sea.
The US is looking to expand its military footprint in the region, and it might return to Subic Bay, Philippines, once the location of the largest US base in Asia. The US closed down its base in Subic Bay in 1992 but is now in discussions with Manila on building new military facilities under a 2014 military pact.
China has some big internal problems to deal with. So like all governments they look for an external threat to unite their country.
Do you imagine, Kenneth, that the US is not a threat in the South China Sea? Do you have the slightest idea of the bizarre history of the Spratlys in US-China relations and US domestic politics?
No US is not a threat in the South China Sea. The US is not Russia, we don’t like to take other peoples lands.
So invasion and occupation of Hawaii was just a democratic election?
North American Terrorist Occupation have invaded and taken over the entire Europe. Pentagon invaded and occupied several countries in just last 20 years.
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!. Tell that to Mexico.
How about those oil fields in Syria?
What about them, when did they become part of the US?
We’re stealing Syria’s oil. We are occupying that part of Syria to do so.
Speak for yourself. I’ve never even been to Syria, let alone stolen anything there.
I am using the “collective we.” You are a citizen of the U.S. are you not?
The US regime claims it owns me. I reject the claim.
So that’s the ticket? The old Soviet Union never made the Warsaw Pact countries part of the USSR either.
I don’t think that is entirely accurate KH, we can go pretty far back on the taking land issue…
I’m part Comanche. The US has been taking land for years…I am a descendant of Quanah Parker.
The USS Chancellorsville — named for a Civil War battle which the Union lost to a much-smaller Confederate force and in which both sides suffered large casualties.
Perfect.
Is the US just so bored that they go looking for problems?… We seem to have a need to feed possible conflicts. If there isn’t a problem we can manifest them out of thin air. I find it deeply troubling and disturbing.
Our system is predicated on war, not peace, it is highly dysfunctional.
Has it been too long since the last world war? Do we really want to invite World War Three, which would probably be our last?
I have no desire to get nuked over a Spratly…
“Is the US just so bored that they go looking for problems?”
ha. they go out of their way to create problems.
uncle sam is a giant solution just wishing for a problem.
I am sure China is so very worried.
You got to admire the humor folks. Relax and have fun. “restrictions on innocent passage imposed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Vietnam, and Taiwan.” And “The US Navy’s Seventh Fleet said the PLA’s statement was ‘false.'” They had the US naval ship on camera. The Chinese sailor didn’t even need the binoculars to see it’s an “innocent” ship.
I’m laughing………………
Ah, more unnecessary provocation over highly disputed rocks in the middle of nowhere. When wars starts and people are shipped off to fight over said worthless rocks….
This island absolutely belongs to China. What is their name for it?