China Sends Warships, Fighter Jets To Intercept US Destroyer In South China Sea

Just days before Trump"s meeting with the Chinese president in Hamburg later this week for the G-20 summit, the Trump administration sent a guided-missile destroyer near Triton Island in the South China Sea, Bloomberg reported, a move "which may cause concern ahead of President Donald Trump’s meeting with his Chinese counterpart."

According to an anonymous official cited by Bloomberg, the U.S. Navy sent the destroyer USS Stethem within 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers) of Triton Island on Sunday, passing through the contested waters on the basis of "innocent passage." 

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Stethem

It was the second such operation conducted by the US during Donald Trump’s presidency. On May 24, the US Navy guided-missile destroyer, the USS Dewey, came within 12 miles of the Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands, another disputed archipelago that lies in the southern part of the South China Sea. At that time, the Chinese Defense Ministry also sent two frigates to “warn off” the US vessel and said that it was “firmly opposed to the US behavior of showing force and boosting regional militarization.”

The news of the US ship deployment to the contested area comes just days after reports suggest China has completed construction of new missile shelters on Mischief and Fiery Cross reefs.

The sea patrol move could signal that the U.S. is displeased with China based on the extent of its efforts to pressure North Korea to curb its missile and nuclear programs. The White House has made several moves in recent weeks, including announcing economic sanctions against Chinese companies with ties to North Korea.

And while in recent weeks China has shown remarkable restraint in not responding, or retaliating, to US escalations today Beijing finally reacted instantly and with "outrage" with People"s Daily reporting that China deployed military vessels and warplanes to “warn off” the USS Stethem, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang.

“Under the pretext of ‘freedom of navigation,’ the US side once again sent a military vessel into China"s territorial waters off the Xisha Islands without China"s approval,” the spokesperson said in a statement, adding that such US behavior “has violated the Chinese law and relevant international law, infringed upon China"s sovereignty, disrupted peace, security and order of the relevant waters and put in jeopardy the facilities and personnel on the Chinese islands, and thus constitutes a serious political and military provocation."

"The Chinese side is dissatisfied with and opposed to the relevant behavior of the US side,” Lu added.

Escalating matter further, China"s foreign ministry also accused the US of "deliberatrely stirring up troubles" in the contested waters and warned Washington to "immediately stop such kind of provocative operations that violate China"s sovereignty."

 “Working together, China and ASEAN member states have cooled down and improved the situation in the #SouthChinaSea. The US, who deliberately stirs up troubles in the South China Sea, is running in the opposite direction from countries in the region who aspire for stability, cooperation and development,” Lu added.

"The Chinese side strongly urges the US side to immediately stop such kind of provocative operations that violate China"s sovereignty and threaten China"s security. The Chinese side will continue to take all necessary means to defend national sovereignty and security," the statement reads.

The head of US Pacific Command, Admiral Harry Harris, recently criticized China’s activity in the region. "China is using its military and economic power to erode the rules-based international order," he said in a speech delivered on Wednesday in Brisbane during the joint US-Australian military exercises.

"Fake islands should not be believed by real people," he added, as reported by Fox News.

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The Paracel Islands, of which Triton is a member, are contested by China, Taiwan and Vietnam.  China has already built runways, aircraft hangars, radar sites and hardened surface-to-air missile shelters on its artificially-created islands in the region, according to photos analyzed by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Beijing’s actions have sparked concerns in Washington and the US Navy, which is fiercely opposed to this Chinese initiative, has deployed additional warships in the disputed zone, conducted maneuvers near China’s artificial islands, and flown over them, claiming it has been done in the interest of the “freedom of navigation.” In response, China called Washington’s involvement in the dispute the “greatest” threat to the region.

In early June, China and the US both held exercises involving air and navy forces, in another episode of confrontation over the disputed South China Sea. The US sent two B-1B Lancer supersonic bombers to fly a 10-hour mission from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, which was conducted in conjunction with the US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer the USS Sterett.

A day earlier, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted its own air and navy exercise off Hong Kong. The patrol mission involved three helicopters and two Type 056 corvettes, the Qinzhou and the Huizhou, the Defense Ministry reported.

China Opposes "Threatening And Damaging" US Carrier Patrols In South China Sea

One day after the US announced it had dispatched the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group in the contested South Chine Sea on "routine" patrols (through a post on the aircraft carrier"s Facebook page), China responded and predictably, it wasn"t thrilled. In a statement by the foreign ministry, Beijing said on Tuesday that it opposed action by other countries "under the pretext of freedom of navigation" that could "threaten and damage" its sovereignty, a clear reference to US patrols in territory that China considers its own.

"China always respects the freedom of navigation and overflight all countries enjoy under international law," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a daily news briefing. "But we are consistently opposed to relevant countries threatening and damaging the sovereignty and security of littoral countries under the flag of freedom of navigation and overflight," Geng said in China"s first official comment on the latest U.S. patrol since it began.

Without explicitly naming the US, Geng said that "we hope relevant countries can do more to safeguard regional peace and stability."

For the time being, the U.S. carrier strike group has not referred to its recent operations in the South China Sea as "freedom of navigation" patrols, although it will likely have to justify its presence in the region in the coming days, especially if confronted with Chinese naval forces.  As Reuters adds, U.S. ships last year conducted several such patrols to counter any efforts to limit freedom of navigation in the strategic waters.

Meanwhile, China just wrapped up its own naval exercises in the South China Sea on Friday. War games involving its own aircraft carrier have unnerved neighbors with which it has long-running territorial disputes. Beijing most recently warned Washington against challenging its sovereignty in the South China Sea last week. It claims almost all of the resource-rich waters, through which about $5 trillion worth of trade passes each year.

At the same time, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also claim parts of the South China Sea that command strategic sea lanes and have rich fishing grounds, along with oil and gas deposits.

The United States has criticized China"s construction of man-made islands and build-up of military facilities in the sea, and expressed concern they could be used to restrict free movement. Foreign ministers of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Tuesday expressed concern over what they see as militarization in the South China Sea, Philippines Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said after meeting with his ASEAN counterparts.

While tense relations between the Trump administration and Beijing have eased in recent weeks, following Trump"s concession that he would observe the "One China" policy, the long-running and on occasion violent tensions over the contested naval territories have little hope of resolution for the foreseeable future.

US Aircraft Carrier Group Begins "Routine" Patrols In Disputed South China Sea

Threatening to destabilize the tentative improvement in Sino-US relations achieved in recent days following Trump"s recent concession over the "One China" policy, was the US deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) to the disputed waters of the South China Sea on Saturday as part of maritime "routine operations", according to an announcement posted on the Vinson"s Facebook page.

Sailing with the 97,000-ton Vinson is the guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer, the Navy said in a statement. The Vinson carries a flight group of more than 60 aircraft, including F/A-18 jet fighters.

The deployment comes just one day after China wrapped up its own naval exercises in the South China Sea on Friday, CNN reported. War games involving its own aircraft carrier have unnerved neighbors with which it has long-running territorial disputes.

US aircraft carrier operations in the South China Sea are not unusual. Almost a year ago, the USS John C. Stennis led a similar cruise through the area. And the Vinson was in the South China Sea in 2015, just one of its 16 operations in the South China Sea in its 35-year history. The cruise of the Vinson in the South China Sea is the second of a high-profile US Navy vessel this month.

It also follows training operations in the South China Sea conducted by the littoral combat ship USS Coronado, which is temporarily based in Singapore, according to a Navy statement. "While underway, we are conducting training across multiple mission areas including weapons training, manned and unmanned flight operations, ship handling, and damage control drills," said Cmdr. Scott Larson, the Coronado"s commanding officer. "Training at sea in these warfare areas maintains crew proficiency and ensures we are ready to operate successfully in a variety of missions."

Quoted by the Navy News Service, Rear Adm. James Kilby, commander of the Vinson strike group, had a similar message: "The training completed over the past few weeks has really brought the team together and improved our effectiveness and readiness as a strike group," Kilby said in a statement. "We are looking forward to demonstrating those capabilities while building upon existing strong relationships with our allies, partners and friends in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region."

The operation, which is the latest test of Chinese response to US naval presence in the contested region comes amid growing tensions between the United States and China over territory and trade, and as the Trump administration looks set to take a more confrontational stance toward China than its predecessor. During his confirmation hearing, new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said China should be blocked from accessing the artificial islands it"s built, setting the stage for a potential showdown.

As CNN reports, in a news conference Wednesday, China"s Foreign Ministry said it heard about the planned deployment of the Vinson days before it happened, and warned Washington against challenging its sovereignty.  "China respects and upholds the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, which countries enjoy under international law, but firmly opposes any country"s attempt to undermine China"s sovereignty and security in the name of the freedom of navigation and overflight," China"s Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.

In an overnight op-ed in the nationalistic Global Times tabloid, China wrote that it "should strongly object to the US in this case. Having freedom of navigation is reasonable in certain areas in the open sea. But, in an exclusive economic zone over which a country has exclusive rights to explore and use the marine resources, the US" freedom of navigation does not apply and it may harm the economic interests of other countries."

In the past few years, the US administration under then president Barack Obama limited the US Navy operations in disputed areas such as the Nansha Islands and did not perform freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea from 2012 to 2015 so as to avoid unnecessary clashes. 

After all, frequent US activities in the waters can easily lead to clashes with China. Obama"s restriction has to some extent prevented such scenario from happening. Recently, a Chinese early warning aircraft nearly collided with a US Navy patrol plane. In matters like this, Trump needs to learn from his predecessor.

The contested waters are a key shipping route at the heart of a territorial dispute that pits multiple countries against one another. China has a long history of maritime disputes with its South China Sea neighbors. China claims almost all of the South China Sea, including islands more than 800 miles from the Chinese mainland, despite objections from neighbors such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.

Beijing has also created artificial islands in the area, outfitting some of them with military features. According to the US, China has reclaimed more than 3,000 acres in the Spratly Islands since 2014. In December, satellite imagery released by Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative showed China has installed weapon systems on all seven artificial islands.

Though the US takes no position on the territorial dispute in the South China Sea, its warships have conducted routine "freedom of navigation" operations near the reclaimed islands, eliciting warnings from Beijing. The most recent of those was in October by the guided-missile destroyer USS Decatur. China at the time called it a serious breach of law and an intentional provocation. There is no word whether the Vinson or the Meyer would be getting near the Chinese-claimed islands.

In a preemptive move to limit foreign naval presence in proximity to China and the disputed South and East China Sea islands, last Thursday China"s People"s Daily reported the Beijing is set to revise its 1984 Maritime Traffic Safety Law, which would allow the relevant authorities to "bar some foreign" (read U.S.) ships from passing through Chinese territorial waters. The Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council announced Tuesday it is soliciting public opinions on the revisions. Think of it as an Air Defense Identification Zone, only in the water. China has yet to make a formal decision.

The latest distribution of US naval forces around the globe is shown in the map below.