WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2022) The US Navy has rejected China's position that the guided missile destroyer USS Benfold broke international law during its claimed Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP) sailing near the Xisha Islands, which the United States refers to as the Paracel Islands.
"The PRC (People's Republic of China)'s statement about this mission is false," the US Navy said. "USS Benfold conducted this FONOP in accordance with international law and then continued on to conduct normal operations in international waters."
Earlier in the day, Chinese Air Force Senior Colonel Tian Junli, spokesman for the Southern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army, said the Benfold had entered Chinese waters off the islands in the South China Sea without Beijing's permission and that it had thereby undermined peace and stability in the region.
The US Navy counter-charged that the PLA Southern Theater Command's statement was the latest in a long string of Chinese actions to misrepresent lawful US maritime operations and assert its excessive and illegitimate maritime claims at the expense of its Southeastern Asian neighbors in the South China Sea.
In its statement, the US Navy defended the Benfold's mission and described it as a freedom of navigation operation to uphold the rights and freedoms recognized in international law by challenging the restrictions on innocent passage imposed by Beijing in the region.
Beijing has long been disputing the ownership of several hydrocarbon-rich islands in the South China Sea with several Asia-Pacific countries. The territories include the Xisha archipelago, the Spratly Islands, and the island of Huangyan, also known as the Scarborough Shoal. Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines have been claiming ownership of the territories.
