The Wall Street Journal - U.S. Navy Patrols Near Disputed Island in South China Sea
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July 2, 2017. Gordon Lubold, Jeremy Page.
Sea patrol follows week where Washington seemed to signal displeasure with Beijing.
The Trump administration conducted a second sea patrol close to a China-controlled island in the South China Sea, U.S. officials said, following a series of moves in recent days that appear to signal Washington’s displeasure with Beijing.
The U.S. Navy sent the guided-missile destroyer USS Stethem near Triton Island in the Paracel island chain in the South China Sea on Sunday, according to U.S. officials. The warship came to within 12 nautical miles of Triton, indicating that the patrol was meant as a freedom-of-navigation operation, challenging what the U.S. sees as excessive maritime claims.
China, Taiwan and Vietnam all lay claim to the island, which is smaller than a square mile. Beijing has controlled it since seizing the Paracels from Vietnamese forces in 1974.
A U.S. defense official said the ship passed through those waters on the basis of “innocent passage,” challenging all three claimants’ requirement for foreign military ships to seek permission before transiting their territorial waters. Under international maritime law, territorial waters extend 12 nautical miles from nations’ territory.
“U.S. forces operate in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region on a daily basis, including in the South China Sea,” said Lt. Cmdr. Matt Knight, a spokesman for the Pacific Fleet.
“All operations are conducted in accordance with international law and demonstrate that the United States will fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows. That is true in the South China Sea as in other places around the globe.”
China’s foreign and defense ministries didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Beijing vowed to build up its military capabilities and accused the U.S. of destabilizing the region after another U.S. Navy ship sailed close to an island in the South China Sea’s Spratly archipelago in May. China also protested after a similar U.S. operation near Triton in January 2016.
The Paracels are considered less of a potential a flashpoint than the Spratlys, where China has built seven fortified artificial islands in the past three years or so. Beijing’s claims to the Spratlys overlap with those of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
Still, China has also conducted substantial upgrades of military infrastructure in the Paracels in recent years, including on Triton Island, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a U.S. think tank.
Triton has had a small harbor for some years, but its facilities have recently been expanded, including with a helipad, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the think tank.
U.S. defense officials stressed that operations like the one on Sunday are typically planned weeks, if not months, ahead of time and said it wasn’t connected to the other actions taken by Washington in the past few days.
But the timing is likely to cause concern in Beijing, as it comes days before President Donald Trump is expected to meet China’s leader, Xi Jinping, for the second time, at a Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.
Mr. Trump was expected to speak by phone with Mr. Xi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Sunday evening.
The U.S. operation around Triton also followed a series of moves in the past week that analysts and diplomats say reflect a hardening of U.S. policy toward Beijing.
U.S. officials have been disappointed by China’s response to U.S. appeals for it to use its economic leverage to persuade North Korea to rein in its missile and nuclear programs.
On Thursday, the White House approved an arms sale of $1.42 billion to Taiwan, including radar, missiles and torpedoes, angering Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its own territory.
Earlier in the week, China also registered concerns about a bill approved by a U.S. Senate panel this week that would allow U.S. warships to make regular port visits to Taiwan.
Also on Thursday, the White House announced sanctions on four Chinese entities over their dealings with North Korea, including a bank the Treasury Department alleged provided access to the U.S. financial system for companies connected to North Korea’s weapons program.
Mr. Trump had pinned his hopes on Beijing to use its influence over Pyongyang to get it to stop its nuclear and missile testing. But on June 20 Mr. Trump seemed to end that approach with a tweet: “While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!”
The freedom-of-navigation operation on Sunday is the second to be publicly confirmed since Mr. Trump took office in January. The Navy destroyer the USS Dewey conducted another operation May 24 around Mischief Reef in the Spratlys. That one came to within 12 miles of Mischief.
During the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump signaled that his Pentagon would be more assertive in the South China Sea, but in recent months his administration has sought to play down the significance of freedom-of-navigation operations, also known as fonops.
Freedom-of-navigation operations, “are not about any one country, nor are they about making political statements,” said Lt. Cmdr. Knight, adding that in the 2016 fiscal year, the U.S. conducted such operations challenging excessive maritime claims of 22 coastal states, including allies and partners.
“We conduct routine and regular fonops, as we have done in the past and will continue to do in the future.”
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