China says US Navy ship ‘illegally’ entered waters

PHILIPPINE EEZ The Philippine Coast Guard conducts aerial surveillance of Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal in this photo taken on Feb. 21. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

BEIJING—China’s military on Monday said a US Navy ship illegally entered waters adjacent to the Second Thomas Shoal, a disputed South China Sea atoll that has recently seen several maritime confrontations.

“The US seriously undermined regional peace and stability,” a spokesperson for China’s Southern Theater of Operations said in a statement, adding that the US disrupted the South China Sea and violated China’s sovereignty.

China is in disputes with several of its neighbors over its extensive claims of territorial waters in the South China Sea.

The US Navy said the USS Gabrielle Giffords, an Independence-class littoral combat ship, was conducting routine operations in international waters in the South China Sea, consistent with international law.

“Every day the US 7th Fleet operates in the South China Sea, as they have for decades,” the US Navy said in a statement. “These operations demonstrate we are committed to upholding a free and open Indo-Pacific region.”

In recent months, China has had several run-ins with Philippine vessels, and protested about US ships patrolling disputed areas.

Free Indo-Pacific

According to the Chinese military, the US ship moved into waters adjacent to what China calls the Renai Reef, also known as Second Thomas Shoal and Ayungin Shoal, a part of the Spratly Islands. The Second Thomas Shoal lies in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), according to an United Nations tribunal ruling in 2016.

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The Chinese military spokesperson said the US ship was monitored and followed, and that China’s “troops in the theater are on high alert at all times to resolutely defend national sovereignty.”

“We will not be deterred from continuing to work alongside our allies and partners in support of our shared vision for a free and open Indo-pacific,” the US Navy responded.

On Sunday, the Philippine Coast Guard deployed two of its vessels in the South China Sea after monitoring an “alarming” increase in the number of Chinese maritime militia vessels at a reef within the country’s exclusive economic zone. —REUTERS

Reuters

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