Renewed tensions between Beijing and Washington. The Chinese army said Thursday, March 23, that it had been in pursuit of a US warship that had “illegally” entered an archipelago it controls in the South China Sea, a statement of facts the United States has described as “false”. was classified.
This incident comes in the context of a struggle for influence between Beijing and Washington in this sea area and a strong rivalry on several other issues: Taiwan, TikTok, treatment of the Uyghur minority or even trade.
The destroyer USS Milius illegally entered the Paracels’ waters “without permission from Chinese authorities” on Thursday, Tian Junli, spokesman for the Chinese army’s southern theater of operations, said in a brief statement.
“Naval and air forces have been mobilized to track and monitor this ship, as well as issue an alert and remove it from the area,” he said.
He condemned an American maneuver that “undermines peace and stability in the South China Sea” and assured that the army “remains on guard and will take all necessary measures to firmly uphold national sovereignty”.
A controversial area
The Paracels, an archipelago equidistant from the Chinese and Vietnamese coasts, are a matter of dispute between Beijing and Hanoi. The Chinese Navy regained control of all the islands in 1974 after a naval conflict.
“The PRC (People’s Republic of China) statement is a lie,” said a spokesman for the US military’s Indo-Pacific Command.
“The USS Milius … is conducting routine operations in the South China Sea and has not been turned back. The United States will continue to fly, sail and operate where international law permits,” he said.
>> The Bashi Canal: the other Sino-US rivalry in the China Sea
China claims to have been the first nation to discover and name the South China Sea islands that now carry much of the trade between Asia and the rest of the world.
It thus claims a large part of the islands of this sea zone. But other neighboring countries (Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei) also have competing claims to sovereignty.
Each country controls several islands and atolls, particularly in the Spratly Archipelago further south, where incidents occur much more frequently than in the Paracels.
The United States regularly conducts operations in the South China Sea dubbed “freedom of navigation,” sending warships to challenge Chinese claims.
With AFP