Tokyo: The US Navy employees warships near the disputed South China Sea on Wednesday for the first time since Beijing began implementing laws that require foreign notifications before entering the waters, local media reported.
Destroyer missiles guided by USS Benfold “involved in normal operation ‘within 12 miles of sea from Mischief reefs” in the spratly chain of strategic waterways, Times Japan reported quoting US Navy’s 7th fleet statement.
Furthermore, reported that “freedom of operation navigation” near the island, which is also claimed by Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines, is a fourth known operation conducted by the US under the government of US President Joe Biden.
The US warship has done “freedom of operation of navigation” there in a real effort to fight Chinese claims and actions at sea.
China claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea and has overlapped with territorial claims with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.
Meanwhile, the Chinese military has criticized the latest operations as the latest evidence of the United States military ‘”South China Sea,” added that it had tracked the ship and warned him, Japan Times reported.
China on September 1 applied a revised law that enabled its maritime safety agency, which was included in the Ministry of Transportation, to order foreign ships to leave what Beijing claimed as its territorial waters if she judged their presence as a security threat.
In February, China applied other controversial laws that allowed coast guards to use weapons when foreign ships involved in illegal activities in Chinese waters claimed not to be obedient, Times Times reported.
Mischief Reef – The biggest of Beijing which is reclaimed and strengthens the Islets in the South China Sea – is home to airfielded 2,700 meters of engineering and host anti-airplane weapons and the Ciws missile defense system.
But the 7th fleet of the US navy said that, under international law, features such as peanut reefs that sink on tide formed naturally have no right to the territorial sea, Japan Times reported.
“Land reclamation efforts, installations, and structures built on the Mischief of the reef do not change this characterization under international law,” he said.
In addition, China has territorial claims that conflict with four of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian countries – Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam – and Taiwan in the South China Sea and Japan in the East China Sea.
Beijing claims that the Senkaku Islands, which is managed by Tokyo, in the East China Sea is part of its territory, the amendment to the Safety Law of the Maritime Traffic can target Japanese ships that serve around uninhabited islands, called Diaoyu in China.
Beijing, meanwhile, has quickly built artificial islands with military infrastructure in the South China Sea, claiming sovereignty of almost all maritime regions.
US warships near the disputed South China Sea Islands
