Latest developments in the tensions near the South China Sea have seen the deployment of two militarily equipped US Navy warships near the disputed islands of the sea where China is attempting to assert their claims upon. This operation was confirmed to have been planned months prior to the present situation, and was a strategic attempt to counter Beijing’s unrivalled claim over the freedom of navigation through the water body.
United States’ officials have confirmed that Higgins, the guided-missile destroyer, and Antietam, the guided-missile cruiser, had initiated manoeuvres as near as 22 kilometres from the disputed territories of Tree, Lincoln, Triton, and Woody in the Paracel Islands. If the cancellation of the historic summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un had not strained the US-China relations enough, this latest move by America fulfilled the unfinished work.
Despite these actions being treated as a step towards the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea by the US, rather than a military show-off, it is safe to say that China has seen through their show of symbolism. After the US Pacific Fleet stated that Sunday’s operations were merely part of the Freedom of Navigation Operations which were initiated routinely by the US Navy, the Chinese government was silent for a while, until their Defence and Foreign Ministers decided against it.
Within a few hours, the Chinese Defence Ministry expressed their agitation towards the United States entering their country’s territory without a formal permission, and claimed that China had already sent forward ships and aircraft to persuade the US to leave their land in peace, as long as that remained an option. However, both the Defence Ministry and the Foreign Ministry accused America of contravening both Chinese and international law when they infringed upon Chinese sovereignty with warships. After also accusing the US of treating their relationship as if they were engaged in a ‘Cold War’, China declared that they would take all the measures necessary to protect the country and its sovereignty.