US Navy challenges Beijing in South China Sea amid Taiwan drills

A US Navy destroyer passed through waters claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea in a show of force that came as China’s military holds drills around Taiwan.

The USS Milius guided-missile destroyer conducted “freedom of navigation” operations on Monday in the South China Sea near the Spratly Islands, the US Seventh Fleet said in a statement.

Chinese navy ships take part in a military drill in the Taiwan Strait.Credit: CCTV via AP

The announcement came as China’s military said it had begun a third day of military drills around Taiwan amid growing tensions between China and the US in the region.

The US ship sailed within 22 kilometres of Mischief Reef, where China has its largest outpost on artificial islands in the South China Sea.

“These operations demonstrate that the United States will fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows – regardless of the location of excessive maritime claims and regardless of current events,” the Seventh Fleet said.

The move risks stoking tensions with China, which has denounced similar operations as an infringement of its sovereignty and security. This week, the US plans to start annual military exercises with the Philippines, which are set to be larger than in previous years as ties warm between the long-time allies.

Beijing asserts it has rights to more than 80 per cent of the South China Sea, whose other claimants are the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Brunei. The US refuses to recognise China’s claims, and regularly conducts what it calls freedom-of-navigation operations to challenge them.

China, meanwhile, this week has held multiple exercises involving aircraft and ships near Taiwan, after the island’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, returned from a visit to the US, which included meetings House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other US lawmakers.

Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said in a statement that it detected 70 aircraft from China’s People’s Liberation Army and 11 warships near Taiwan, with 35 of the warplanes crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entering the southwestern part of the island’s air-defence identification zone.

Beijing had pledged to respond to any meeting between Tsai and McCarthy, calling it a provocation that “damages China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” The latest drills appear to be on a smaller scale than exercises held by China after then-US House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan last year, and didn’t include any imposition of exclusive zones in its airspace and waters.

Bloomberg, Reuters

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