Talking about what concerns China in this situation, the analyst said that this is one of the most vulnerable frontiers for China.
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Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said that Vietnam respects “innocent passage” of ships through territorial waters in line with worldwide law.
“As long as Washington stops operating under a Cold War mentality and stops manipulating the issue to inhibit China’s development, China will welcome its constructive role”, said Xinhua, arguing that the American naval manoeuvre was provocative, and warning that such actions would lead the United States to “find itself alienated from extensive public opinion in China”.
The USS Curtis Wilbur, a destroyer, navigated within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island in the Paracel island chain in the South China Sea, a senior US defense official confirmed.
“No claimants were notified prior to the transit, which is consistent with our normal process and worldwide law”, said Davis, who emphasized that the United States takes no sides in the territorial row over the South China Sea.
The island, administered by China, is part of the Paracel islands chain in the South China Sea also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.
“Regardless of whatever provocative steps the American side takes, China’s military will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard national sovereignty and security”, the foreign ministry for its part said.
“We conducted a freedom of navigation operation in the South China Sea”, he said.
The warship traveled within 12 nautical miles of Triton without providing prior notification to any of the three claimants, the US defense official said.
Two other nurses serving on the island, Pan Man-chi and Lin Fang-tzu, have also said they plan to register their residence to the Spratlys Islands, referred to as the Nansha Islands by the Chinese, when they return to Taiwan on leave.
The South China Sea is a major shipping route for trade, with roughly $5tn (£3.5tn) of trade making its way through the region each year – and the USA believes that the passage should be regarded as worldwide waters.
A USA warship conducted a patrol Saturday around an island in the South China Sea claimed by China and two of its neighbors, another in a series of operations challenging Beijing’s recent efforts to enforce maritime and territorial claims in the region.
No Chinese navy ships were in the area at the time the United States destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of the tiny 1.2 square kilometer island, he said. The incident took place just days after U.S. Pacific Commander Harry Harris vowed to continue to challenge China’s position on the South China Sea during a speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
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 worldwide law.
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According to Chinese law, foreign warships entering what it calls its territorial waters must be approved by the Chinese government. Washington did not give Beijing prior notice of the exercise – which was meant to challenge “excessive maritime claims” by China, Taiwan and Vietnam, said a Pentagon spokesman, Mark Wright.
