A Chinese coast guard ship patrols the South China Sea on Dec. 25, 2022.
STR | AFP | Getty Photographs
China’s protection ministry mentioned on Friday that it however once more experienced to keep an eye on and travel away the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Milius that entered its territorial waters in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands.
“We sternly demand from customers the U.S. to immediately prevent such provocative acts, otherwise it will bear the major penalties of unexpected incidents,” a spokesperson mentioned in a statement from the Ministry of Nationwide Defense.
The U.S. Navy said the guided-missile destroyer was asserting its navigational legal rights and freedoms.
“Illegal and sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea pose a severe threat to the liberty of the seas, including the freedoms of navigation and overflight, absolutely free trade and unimpeded commerce, and liberty of financial possibility for South China Sea littoral nations,” the U.S. Navy Seventh fleet stated in an emailed assertion.
U.S. forces run in the South China Sea on a everyday basis, the U.S. Navy said.
It was the 2nd straight working day of a stand-off involving the two super powers amid growing tensions in the South China Sea.
China claims vast swathes of the location that overlap with exceptional economic zones of different nations which includes the Philippines. Trillions of dollars in trade move every year by way of the waterway.
