The US Navy on Wednesday sailed a destroyer near Chinese-controlled islands in the South China Sea on a patrol that Washington said was aimed at asserting freedom of navigation through the strategic sea lane. The guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold passed the Paracel Islands and then continued operations in the South China Sea. The operation “supports the rights, freedoms and lawful uses of the sea,” the 7th Fleet said in a press release. Such operations are seen as key to maintaining the US Navy’s presence in the Indo-Pacific, where China has been increasing its presence through a massive shipbuilding campaign. Beijing has also alarmed the US, Australia and New Zealand by signing a mutual defense agreement with the Solomon Islands, under which it could receive Chinese troops in emergencies and possibly establish a permanent Chinese military presence. In response to Benfold’s passage, China’s Southern Theater Command tracked the vessel’s movements and ordered it to leave the area, Air Force Col. Tian Junli said on the Defense Ministry website. “Our troops in the military area are on high alert at all times to safeguard national sovereignty, security and peace and stability in the South China Sea,” the ministry said. China claims ownership of almost the entire strategic waterway, through which about $5 trillion in global trade passes each year and which holds highly valuable fish stocks and undersea mineral resources. The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan also have competing claims to the region. The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan has also been deployed to the South China Sea, along with the strike group that includes the guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam and the destroyer USS Higgins. “Our presence in the South China Sea demonstrates America’s commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Capt. Fred Goldhammer, Ronald Reagan’s commander, was quoted as saying in a press release. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Wednesday reiterated the Philippines’ rejection of a 2016 Hague arbitration ruling under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea that invalidated Beijing’s vast territorial claims in the South China Sea. “China neither accepts nor recognizes (the decision). China will never accept any claim or action based on this award,” Wang told a daily briefing. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Tuesday appealed to China to comply with the ruling and warned that Washington is obliged to defend the Philippines, a treaty ally, if its forces, ships or aircraft are attacked in the disputed waters . While publicly seeking closer ties with the Philippine government, China has moved aggressively to assert control over the disputed waters with its vastly superior coast guard and naval assets. Dozens of left-wing activists and workers demonstrated Tuesday in front of the Chinese consulate in Manila’s Makati financial district, calling on Beijing to respect the arbitration ruling and newly elected President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to defend the country’s territory and sovereign rights in the South China Sea. Washington does not claim the disputed waters, but has deployed Navy ships and Air Force jets to patrol the waterway for decades and says freedom of navigation and overflight is in the US national interest. China responded with fury, accusing the US of meddling in a purely Asian dispute and demanding it leave the region where it has had a naval presence for more than a century.
