BEIJING (Dispatches) – A U.S. Navy destroyer sailed near the disputed Spratly Islands on Saturday, the U.S. Navy said, its second such provocative move in a week in the South China Sea.
“On July 16, USS Benfold (DDG 65) asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea near the Spratly Islands, consistent with international law,” the US navy said in a statement on Saturday.
On Wednesday, China’s military said it had “driven away” the same ship, the USS Benfold, when it sailed near the disputed Paracel Islands.
The United States regularly carries out what it calls “freedom of navigation” operations in the South China Sea.
Beijing has repeatedly asserted that it does not impede freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, and says the United States is deliberately provoking tensions there.
The Southern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said the guided-missile destroyer had illegally entered Chinese territorial waters, adding that the move seriously violated China’s sovereignty and security.
It also stressed that Chinese naval and air forces had tracked the ship and warned it to leave the vicinity of the disputed islands.
China claims the South China Sea in its entirety. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei have overlapping claims to parts of the waters. The United States, however, sides with Beijing’s rival claimants in the dispute.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon said on Friday that the U.S. State Department had approved the potential sale of military ‘technical assistance’ to Taiwan worth an estimated $108 million.
The assistance, as the Pentagon said, includes spare and repair parts for tanks and combat vehicles, in addition to the U.S. government and contractor technical and logistical support.
Under the “One China” policy, almost all world countries recognize China’s sovereignty over Taipei. The U.S., too, recognizes the principle but has long courted Taiwan in an attempt to unnerve Beijing.
The U.S., which backs Taipei’s secessionist president, also continues to sell weapons to the island in violation of its own stated policy.