Tensions soar as US destroyer sails near disputed islands in South China Sea

Washington, July 13: Tensions were high on Wednesday after China deployed warships and jets to monitor an American guided missile destroyer, which sailed near the disputed islands in the South China Sea.

The US destroyer USS Benfold sailed near the disputed Paracel Islands known as Xisha in China as part of Washington's so-called freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea.

The US Navy's 7th Fleet said that ship exercised its right to free passage then continued sailing, contradicting a Chinese statement on the incident. The People's Liberation Army's (PLA) southern theatre command had said that its forces had monitored and driven away the American warship for illegally entering Chinese waters in the South China Sea.

The US Navy in a statement said that the USS Benfold asserted its navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands, consistent with international law.

The PLA on the other hand reacted by saying that the US warship illegally entered China's Xisha territorial waters without the approval of the Chinese government. The statement also said that the command organised naval and air forces to track and drive away the warship.

"The actions of the US military have seriously violated China's sovereignty and security, seriously undermined the peace and stability of the SCS, and seriously violated international law and norms of international relations," the Chinese statement said.

It also added that the incident showed the US as an out-and-out creator of security risks in the South China Sea and the destroyer of regional peace and stability.

"Unlawful and sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea pose a serious threat to the freedom of the seas, including the freedoms of navigation and overflight, free trade and unimpeded commerce, and freedom of economic opportunity for South China Sea littoral nations," a statement attributed to Lieutenant Nicholas Lingo from the US Navy's 7th Fleet said.

"By engaging in innocent passage without giving prior notification to or asking permission from any of the claimants, the US challenged these unlawful restrictions imposed by the PRC, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

The United States demonstrated that innocent passage is not to be subject to such restrictions," the US statement also read.

The US regularly patrols the disputed maritime region, which led the Chinese to call the USS Benfold a habitual offender.