China states it ‘repelled’ U.S. warship in South China Sea

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China says it 'drove away' U.S. warship in South China Sea

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China’s armed force stated it “drove away” a U.S. warship that unlawfully got in Chinese waters near the Paracel Islands Monday, the anniversary of a global court judgment that held Beijing had no claim over the South China Sea.

The USS Benfold got in the waters without China’s approval, seriously breaking its sovereignty and weakening the stability of the South China Sea, the southern theater command of the People’s Liberation Army stated.

“We urge the United States to immediately stop such provocative actions,” it stated in a declaration.

On July 12, 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague ruled that China had no historical title over the South China Sea, a judgment that China stated it would neglect.

The Benfold asserted navigational rights and liberties in the area of the Paracel Islands constant with global law, the U.S. Navy stated in a declaration on Monday.

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The islands are declared by China, Taiwan and Vietnam, which need either authorization or advance alert prior to a military vessel goes through.

“Under international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention, the ships of all states, including their warships,- enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea,” the U.S. Navy included.

“By engaging in innocent passage without giving prior notification to or asking permission from any of the claimants, the United States challenged these unlawful restrictions imposed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam.”

An bird’s-eye view of the Paracel Islands, in South China Sea.Wang hu / Imaginechina/AP file

Hundreds of other islands, reefs and atolls in the resource-rich waterway are objected to by Brunei, China, Malaysia and the Philippines, with China declaring rights to resources within its so-called nine-dash line, or the majority of the area.

“By conducting this operation, the United States demonstrated that these waters are beyond what China can lawfully claim as its territorial sea, and that China’s claimed straight baselines around the Paracel Islands are inconsistent with international law,” the U.S. Navy stated.

In its 2016 judgment, the Hague court likewise stated China had actually disrupted standard Philippine fishing rights at Scarborough Shoal and breached the nation’s sovereign rights by checking out for oil and gas near the Reed Bank.

Freedom of the seas was an “enduring” interest of all countries, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated on Sunday.

“Nowhere is the rules-based maritime order under greater threat than in the South China Sea,” Blinken stated in a declaration.

“The People’s Republic of China continues to coerce and intimidate Southeast Asian coastal states, threatening freedom of navigation in this critical global throughway.”