China’s military accused the Pentagon of engaging in “navigation hegemony” after a U.S. Navy warship conducted a freedom of navigation voyage in the South China Sea last weekend.
People’s Liberation Army Sr. Col. Tian Junli, a spokesman for the PLA Southern Command, said on Saturday that the guided-missile destroyer USS Hopper illegally transited Chinese waters and was “warned off” by PLA naval and air forces.
Col. Tian said the operation was a serious violation of Chinese sovereignty and “iron proof” the United States is engaged in “navigation hegemony,” according to Chinese state media. The spokesman also accused the U.S. military of creating a major security risk in the disputed waters of the South China Sea and was the “biggest destroyer” of regional peace and stability.
The Navy’s Seventh Fleet said the Hopper “asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands, consistent with international law.”
“At the conclusion of the operation, USS Hopper …. exited the excessive claim area and continued operations in the South China Sea,” the fleet said in a statement. “This freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) upheld the rights, freedoms and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international law by challenging restrictions on innocent passage imposed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan and Vietnam.”
Countries across the region have clashing claims to the heavily trafficked waterway, with China making some of the most extensive claims to sovereignty in the sea.
The islands in the northern part of the sea are claimed by China, Vietnam, and Taiwan and all require permission or advance notice before a military vessel can conduct “innocent passage” through territorial sea.
Warships are allowed to conduct innocent passage through territorial seas under the Law of the Sea Convention, the statement said.
“The unilateral imposition of any authorization or advance-notification requirement for innocent passage is unlawful,” the U.S. Navy said.
The warship passage and China‘s reaction come as Washington and Beijing recently agreed to resume military communications and exchanges that were cut off by Beijing in August 2022. President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to restore the cut-off communication channels at a summit meeting in California earlier this month, as part of a larger effort to ease tensions in the deteriorating bilateral relationship.
A Navy spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the USS Hopper was driven out of the Parcels by Chinese forces, as the PLA claimed.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.