PLA expels US warship from SCS, claim China

China has claimed that it has expelled a US guided missile destroyer from the South China Sea, a day after the same warship passed through the Taiwan Strait. The PLA's southern theatre command issued a statement saying it deployed warships and aircraft to warn and drive away USS John S McCain from near the Xisha Island  in the  South China Sea(SCS) region. Friday’s exchange is part of the war of words that has broken out between Beijing and Washington on the passage of the US warship through the region in the past 24 hours - for the first time since Joe Biden took over as President in January.

In a statement, the US Navy said its warship was asserting international navigational rights in the SCS region and was carrying out a lawful, “freedom of navigation operation”. “On Feb 5  USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the vicinity of the Paracel Islands(Xisha), consistent with international law,” Lt Joe Keiley, US Navy’s 7th Fleet spokesperson, said. “This freedom of navigation operation upheld the rights, freedoms and lawful uses of the sea recognised in international law by challenging the unlawful restrictions on innocent passage imposed by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam and also by challenging China’s claim to straight baselines enclosing the Paracel Islands,” Keiley said.

China claims nearly the entire SCS, but that claim is disputed by several maritime neighbours including The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia besides Vietnam and Taiwan (which China claims to be its breakaway region). Tian Junli, spokesperson of the Chinese theatre command, said the passage of the US warship “seriously” infringed upon China’s sovereignty and security, undermined regional peace and stability, and deliberately disrupted the “good atmosphere” of peace, friendship, and cooperation in the SCS maritime zone.