After Chinese Foreign Ministry called on the US and Japan at the beginning of the month to stop promoting the so-called Chinese threat theory and to work toward peace and stability in the region, another US warship illegally entered Chinese waters near the Paracel Islands, the Chinese military claims, urging the US to stop such actions.
The southern theater command of the People’s Liberation Army said that USS Benfold entered the waters without China’s approval, seriously violating its sovereignty and undermining the stability of the South China Sea, after which it was driven away by the Chinese military.
The territorial status of islands in the South China Sea – with significant hydrocarbon reserves- including the Paracel and Spratly Islands has been for decades subject of dispute between Beijing and other Asia-Pacific countries, including Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
These nations continue to argue over the waters’ maritime borders un the South China Sea and the East China Sea, situated in the Asian-Pacific region, with China considering the disputed Spratly Islands as its territory, despite an international tribunal ruling that these claims have no legal basis.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier urged China to cease its provocative behaviour reaffirming Trump-era policy rejecting the Chinese government’s territorial claims on the South China Sea. The previous US position – before the Trump administration’s announcement last year- was to resolve maritime disputes between China and its smaller neighbors peacefully, through UN-backed arbitration.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in Hague ruled on July 12, 2016 that China had no historic title over the South China Sea, but China’s government has ignored the ruling.
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