World
Chinese Warship Sailed Within Yards Of An American Destroyer In South China Sea
The close encounter comes amid strained relations between the United States and China
A Chinese warship recently sailed within yards of an American destroyer in the South China Sea on Sunday, forcing the US destroyer to perform evasive maneuvers in order to avoid a collision, the U.S. officials said.
The USS Decatur guided-missile destroyer was conducting what the military calls a “freedom of navigation operation,” when it traveled within 12 nautical miles of Gaven and Johnson Reefs in the Spratly Islands on Sunday. Notably, the 12-mile distance is commonly accepted as constituting the territorial waters of a landmass.
According to Capt. Charles Brown, a spokesman for US Pacific Fleet, the Chinese warship “conducted a series of increasingly aggressive maneuvers accompanied by warnings for the Decatur to depart the area.”
In response to the allegations, China’s Defense Ministry said that the USS Decatur should never have traveled through those waters in its “freedom of navigation” mission in the first place as China claims most of the sea as its own. The action provoked Beijing to order a Luyang-class warship to force it away from the Spratly Islands.
“The Chinese vessel took quick action and made checks against the U.S. vessel in accordance with the law, and warned it to leave the waters,” spokesman Wu Qian said in a statement.
The close encounter comes amid strained relations between the United States and China. The US President Donald Trump has launched sort of a trade war with Beijing by imposing tariffs on almost all Chinese products. China has also reverted back strongly imposing tariffs on American products.
The US sanctions on China’s military for buying Russian arms and its support for self-ruled Taiwan has further angered China and forced the government to take a series of retaliatory measures including denying permission to a US Navy ship to dock in Hong Kong and canceling a meeting between the head of the Chinese navy and his American counterpart.
Notably, the Trump administration has also canceled Defense Secretary Jim Mattis meeting with his Chinese counterpart planned for October.
