Wednesday’s operation by the guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold raised questions not only with China, but also with Vietnam and the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which also claim the islands, with all three governments requiring military vessels to seek permission or notify in advance of “innocent passage”. through the area, Lingo said. The Paracels are a collection of 130 small coral islands and reefs in the northwestern part of the South China Sea. They have no native population to speak of, only Chinese military garrisons numbering 1,400, according to the CIA World Factbook. The islands have been in Chinese hands for nearly 50 years and during that time have been populated with military installations of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The PLA’s Southern Theater Command said it warned the US destroyer to leave its “territorial waters”. “The actions of the US military have seriously violated China’s sovereignty and security, seriously undermined the peace and stability of the South China Sea, and seriously violated international law and the rules of international relations,” Colonel Tian Junli of the Military of the PLA Air Force, a spokesman for the Southern Theater Command, said in a statement. But Lingo, a spokesman for the US 7th Fleet, said the US destroyer’s departure “upholds the rights, freedoms and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international law”. “Illegal and sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea pose a serious threat to the freedom of the seas, including freedoms of navigation and overflight, free trade and unimpeded trade, and freedom of economic opportunity for the littoral nations of the South China Sea” . the statement said. “Under international law … ships of all states — including their warships — enjoy the right of innocent passage through territorial waters. Unilaterally imposing any requirement of permission or warning of innocent passage is illegal,” the U.S. The Navy statement said. Claiming navigational rights involves sailing within the 12-mile territorial limit of a nation’s coastline recognized by international law. The US Navy statement said Wednesday’s operation also challenged “straight baselines” — moves to define all waters within the island chain as a single territorial claim. “International law does not allow mainland states such as the DPRK to establish baselines around entire scattered island groups. With these baselines, the DPRK has attempted to claim more internal waters, territorial waters, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf than ,what it is entitled to under international law,” the 7th Fleet statement said, referring to the People’s Republic of China. The PLA said on Wednesday that the US Navy was raising tensions in the region. “Events show once again that the United States is a clear ‘danger generator in the South China Sea’ and ‘disruptors of regional peace and stability,’” the PLA statement said.
