According to Yang, Chinese troops on the island and navy vessels and warplanes took actions immediately, identified the US warship and “warned and expelled it swiftly”. State media quoted Binh as reiterating Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Paracels and Spratlys and calling on nations to actively and practically contribute to peace and stability in the South China Sea.
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Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun issued a statement saying the “unprofessional and irresponsible” USA action “severely violated Chinese law, sabotaged the peace, security and good order of the waters, and undermined the region’s peace and stability”.
The U.S. has watched with increasing alarm as China has stepped up activities to enforce claims to islands and other land masses in the South China Sea, including among the Spratly and Paracel island chains. China is engaged in a territorial dispute with four countries, including Vietnam and Philippines over the island.
The U.S. freedom of navigation program begun in 1979 with the goal of testing maritime territorial claims the U.S. viewed as excessive and in violation of global law.
The backlash from China followed the sailing of an American missile destroyer, the USS Curtis Wilbur, within 12 nautical miles off Triton Island in the Paracel Islands chain on Saturday.
China, Taiwan and Vietnam all claim ownership of overlapping areas in the Paracels and require prior notice from ships transiting what they consider their territorial waters, AP reported.
“The American warship has violated relevant Chinese laws by entering Chinese territorial waters without prior permission, and the Chinese side has taken relevant measures including monitoring and admonishments”, China’s foreign ministry said.
The US Navy conducted a similar exercise in October in which the guided-missile destroyer Lassen sailed close to one of China’s man-made islands, also drawing a rebuke from Beijing. He said the delay allowed China to pursue its territorial ambitions in the South China Sea, where it has now established a pervasive – and often intimidating – naval presence.
Triton Island is not among the features where China has built artificial islands and constructed military and civilian features. “The US does take a strong position on protecting the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea and airspace guaranteed to all countries, and that all maritime claims must comply with worldwide law”, he had said.
‘The excessive claims regarding Triton Island are inconsistent with worldwide law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention’.
It is strongly desired that Washington abandon its own standards to observe worldwide laws and act as a responsible power, rather than stirring up trouble in the South China Sea and then making a false countercharge against others.
“I continue to hope these operations will become so routine that China and other claimants will come to accept them as normal occurrences and releasing press statements to praise them will no longer be necessary”, McCain said in a statement issued ON Saturday.
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“The Chinese troops stationed at the islands and naval ships and airplanes made an immediate response, took countermeasures and conducted identification and verification against the U.S. warship”, Yang said.
