A U.S. Navy destroyer sailed near a disputed reef in the South China Sea, according to the Defense Department, and China is not happy with the move.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the USS William P. Lawrence, a guided missile destroyer, was within 12 nautical miles of Fiery Cross Reef, according to a senior defense official. The destroyer took one pass at the island.
The operation, known in international sea law as “innocent passage,” was done to “challenge excessive maritime claims” by China, Taiwan and Vietnam in their attempts to restrict navigation rights in the South China Sea, Defense Department spokesman Bill Urban said according to Reuters.
“These excessive maritime claims are inconsistent with international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention in that they purport to restrict the navigation rights that the United States and all states are entitled to exercise,” Urban told Reuters.
Fiery Cross consists of approximately 700 acres of largely dredged materials from the ocean floor, and includes a runway, port and other military facilities.
Daniel Russel, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told journalists in Hanoi that the operations “are not provocations. They are good global citizenship.”
U.S. defense officials believe China is attempting to militarize the South China Sea. A visit by a high-ranking Chinese general to Fiery Cross last month marked the highest-level Chinese military official to visit any of the islands in the South China Sea in recent years.
“This action by the U.S. side threatened China’s sovereignty and security interests, endangered the staff and facilities on the reef, and damaged regional peace and stability,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, told a daily news briefing, adding that the U.S. ship was tracked and warned.
