According to the US Navy, it is the second such provocative action in the important shipping lane since past week, that one of its destroyers has sailed close to the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
The US Navy stated in a statement on Saturday that the USS Benfold (DDG 65) “asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea near the Spratly Islands on July 16, consistent with international law.”
The US often challenges restrictions on naval passage imposed by China and other claimants in the South China Sea through what it describes as freedom of navigation operations.
Beijing has frequently claimed that it does not obstruct freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and that the US is purposefully escalating tensions there.
The USS Benfold was “driven away,” according to China’s military, on Wednesday when it sailed close to the disputed Paracel Islands.
The guided-missile destroyer entered Chinese territorial waters unlawfully, according to the Southern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which further added that the action gravely damaged China’s security and sovereignty.
The Chinese naval and air forces had followed the ship and had issued a warning for it to leave the area of the disputed islands.
