US warship carries out “freedom of navigation” exercise in Chinese-claimed waters
By
James Cogan
26 May 2017
For the first time since the inauguration of Donald Trump, a US warship yesterday violated the 12-mile exclusion zone around Chinese-claimed territory in the South China Sea. USS Dewey, a guided-missile destroyer, entered waters around Chinese-occupied Mischief Reef. In another first, the Dewey did not simply pass through but lingered and carried out an “operational maneuver”—a rehearsal of a man-overboard rescue—to emphasise Washington’s categorical rejection of Beijing’s assertions of sovereignty.
The Chinese navy dispatched two frigates to instruct the American ship to leave the area. China’s foreign ministry issued a sharp condemnation of US actions, stating that they “undermined China’s sovereignty and security,” and warning they risk causing “unexpected air and sea accidents.”
Four so-called “freedom of navigation operations,” or FONOPs, were carried out by the US Navy under the Obama administration, as part of its broader “pivot” and military build-up in Asia to push back against growing Chinese strategic and economic influence in the region. The last, however, was in October 2016 and it was derided in US military circles. The warship skirted the edge of the 12-mile zone around Triton and Woody Islands, in the Paracel Island chain, so it did not technically violate Chinese sovereignty claims.
According to the New York Times, at least three requests by the navy have been made under Trump for the authority to conduct an operation, but all were denied. This was despite the bellicose statement by now Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, during his January congressional confirmation hearing, that Chinese “access to those…