China protested a U. S. Navy patrol that sent a guided missile destroyer near a group of man-made islands in the South China Sea on Thursday in the first American challenge to Beijing’s claims to the waters since President Trump took office.
BEIJING — China protested a U. S. Navy patrol that sent a guided missile destroyer near a group of man-made islands in the South China Sea on Thursday in the first American challenge to Beijing’s claims to the waters since President Donald Trump took office.
China’s Defense Ministry told reporters that it had sought an explanation with U. S. officials over the incident, which Beijing said involved the USS Dewey and took place around Mischief Reef, one of a chain of artificial islands China has built and fortified to assert its claims over the strategic waterway.
While U. S. officials did not immediately comment on Thursday’s operation, Washington has in the past insisted that it has the right to conduct so-called freedom of navigation operations in the area because it is in international waters. The Navy conducted similar operations under former President Barack Obama, but had yet to do so since Trump took office and began talking up the prospect of warming ties with Beijing and cooperating over issues like North Korea.
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A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the U. S. destroyer had “trespassed” near islands over which China has “indisputable sovereignty.”
“We urge the U. S. to correct this mistake and stop taking further actions so as to avoid hurting peace and security in the region and long-term cooperation between the two countries, ” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said.
