Move FM Global News

WASHINGTON, U.S. – With its unusually stony silence over an issue it has been very sensitive about usually – China has left half of Asia and the world curious. 

Regardless of whether it is dealing with a friend or a foe, China has been very loud and unyielding in its claims over the mineral-rich and disputed waterways – the South China Sea. 

However, on Sunday, following an uninhibited challenge by the U.S., in the disputed South China Sea which it considers its own – China has remained impervious.

On Sunday, a U.S. defence official confirmed that a U.S. warship sailed near two contested Chinese man-made islands in the South China Sea.

In a statement, the U.S. official was quoted as saying, that the U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class “guided-missile destroyer USS Decatur (DDG 73) conducted a freedom of navigation operation in the South China Sea to uphold the rights and freedoms of all states under international law. Decatur sailed within 12 nautical miles of Gaven and Johnson Reefs in the Spratly Islands.”

According to reports, the U.S. warship sailed near the islands where Beijing has built up military fortifications.

Further, the U.S. official was quoted as saying, “U.S. Forces operate in the Indo-Pacific region on a daily basis, including the South China Sea. All operations are designed in accordance with international law and demonstrate that the United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows.”

Adding, the freedom of navigation operations “challenge excessive maritime claims and demonstrate our commitment to uphold the rights, freedoms, and uses of the sea and airspace guaranteed to all nations under international law.”

The latest challenge by the U.S. came merely days after it conducted a similar freedom-of-navigation operation, angering China. 

In the past week, U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress heavy long-range bombers flew through the South and East China Sea three times.

Following a warning issued to the U.S. last week, China, which called the U.S. military activities in the region “provocative,” conducted its own drills in the South China Sea.

The U.S. manoeuvre on Sunday comes as it remains tied in an ugly trade war with China, blaming the country of exploitation. 

Puzzling Chinese silence

The entire South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes each year, is claimed by China, even though the claims are contested by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. 

Over the last few years, China has intensified its determination over its claims in the South China Sea.

The country continues to reinforce and arm its bases in the Paracel Islands and farther south in the Spratly Islands, despite the various islands, reefs, shoals and other outcroppings being claimed by neighbouring nations.

In May this year, China face harsh international criticism after it announced that, for the first time, it had landed its H-6K strategic bomber on an outpost in the Paracels, Woody Island. 

The U.S. formally protested the deployment of missiles and radar equipment on the three artificial islands in the Spratly Islands.

Since then, the U.S. has continued to send its warships to challenge Beijing over its claims. 

However, each time, China has protested and fought back, slamming “America’s violation of Chinese sovereignty.”

Further, the Chinese Foreign Ministry and its Ministry of National Defence has clarified that China’s military would be “firm and unwavering in its determination to strengthen sea and air operational preparedness construction” on the islands.

Yet, on Sunday, despite the U.S. challenge, China has remained silent.

So much so, that experts pointed out that in the past, American warships have been shadowed by Chinese spy ships and fighter jets during similar operations.

But this time, they were reportedly absent.

The U.S. challenge on the high seas also comes days after the U.S. President Donald Trump accused Beijing of seeking to interfere in the U.S. congressional elections.