China says it “expelled” US warship on anniversary of court ruling

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BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s military said it “deported” a US warship that illegally entered Chinese waters near the Paracel Islands on Monday, commemorating an international court ruling that Beijing has no claims over the South China Sea.

The People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater Command said the USS Penfold entered the waters without China’s consent, seriously violating its sovereignty and undermining the stability of the South China Sea.

“We urge the United States to immediately cease such provocative actions,” she said in a statement.

On July 12, 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that China had no historical right over the South China Sea, a ruling that Beijing said it would ignore.

The US Navy said in a statement that Penfold affirmed the navigational rights and freedoms in the vicinity of the Paracel Islands in accordance with international law.

The islands are claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam, which require either permission or advance notice before a military ship passes by.

The US Navy added that “under international law as reflected in the Convention on the Law of the Sea, ships of all nations, including their warships, have the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea.”

“innocent lane”

“By entering an innocent lane without giving advance notice or seeking permission from any of the claimants, the United States has challenged these illegal restrictions imposed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam.”

Brunei, China, Malaysia and the Philippines dispute hundreds of islands, reefs and other atolls in the resource-rich waterway. China claims its rights to the resources within the so-called nine-point line, or most of the area.

“By conducting this process, the United States has demonstrated that these waters are beyond what China can legally claim as its territorial sea, and that the straight baselines that China claims around the Paracel Islands are inconsistent with international law,” the US Navy said.

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In its 2016 ruling, the Hague court also said that China interfered with traditional Philippine fishing rights at the Scarborough Shoal and violated the country’s sovereign rights by drilling for oil and gas near Red Bank.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Sunday that freedom of the seas is an “enduring interest” for all nations.

“Nowhere is the base-based maritime order under greater threat than in the South China Sea,” Blinken said in a statement.

“The People’s Republic of China continues to coerce and intimidate coastal states in Southeast Asia, threatening freedom of navigation on this critical global path.”

On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular press conference that the United States is detrimental to peace and stability in the region.

In the Philippines, more than 100 activists gathered outside a building housing the Chinese Consulate to pressure Beijing to respect the arbitration award and allow Filipinos to fish freely in the South China Sea.

The crowd marched carrying the Philippine flag and placards reading “China out of the West Philippine Sea” and “China out of our waters.”

Manila refers to the part of the South China Sea that it claims to be the West Philippine Sea.

“Since the victory of the court ruling, there have been no changes. There is still a presence of the Chinese Coast Guard, the Chinese militia … in the West Philippine Sea,” said Fernando Hiccup, president of the Federation of Small Fishermen’s Groups.

(Reporting by Ryan Wu; Additional reporting by Jay Irino in Manila; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Clarence Fernandez and Chizu Nomiyama)

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