Chinese The military announced today that it has expelled a US warship that “illegally entered” an archipelago they control in the South China Sea. USA called “fake”.

Battle for influence between Beijing and Washington

This episode takes place in the context of a struggle for influence between Beijing and Washington in this maritime zone and a fierce rivalry over many other issues: Taiwan, TikTok, the treatment of the Uyghur minority, and trade.

The destroyer USS Milius “illegally entered” today “without the approval of the Chinese authorities into the waters of the Paracel Islands,” Tian Zongli, spokesman for China’s southern theater of operations, said in a brief statement.

“Navy and air forces have been mobilized to escort and monitor this ship, as well as to warn and withdraw it from the zone,” the spokesman said.

He condemned the US maneuver, which “threatens peace and stability in the South China Sea,” and assured the military “remains on alert and will take all necessary measures to resolutely defend national sovereignty.”

The Paracel Islands, an archipelago equidistant from the coasts of China and Vietnam, are claimed by Beijing and Hanoi. The Chinese navy took control of all the islands in 1974 after a maritime conflict.

US: China’s claim is ‘false’.

“The PRC (People’s Republic of China) claim is false,” said a spokesman for the US Indo-Pacific Command.

“The USS Milius (…) is conducting planned operations in the South China Sea and was not ejected. The United States will continue to fly, sail and operate where international law allows,” he said.

China claims to have been the first country to discover and name the islands of the South China Sea, through which much of the trade between Asia and the rest of the world passes today.

Thus, he lays claim to most of the islands of this maritime zone. However, other states bordering this sea (Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei) have competing claims to sovereignty.

Each country controls the islands and atolls, especially the Spratly archipelago to the south, where incidents occur much more often than in the Paracel Islands.

The United States regularly conducts so-called “freedom of navigation” operations in the South China Sea, sending warships to challenge China’s claims.

^{Source: APE, AFP, Reuters.}