On Friday, March 23, two frigates of the Chinese Navy intercepted and repelled a US destroyer engaged in a "freedom of navigation" mission in the South China Sea.
The Pentagon confirmed the news by specifying that it is the destroyer USS Mustin (photo), class Arleigh Burke, thrust to 12 nautical miles from Mischief Reef, one of the islets of the Spratly atoll, on which China, after having occupied it in the 1995, claims its sovereignty.
China extends its claims to almost the entire Chinese, southern and eastern sea, in litigation with Japan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan, claiming its sovereignty on the basis of a "nine dash line" demarcation principle, defined unilaterally. The disputes, among other things, concern the atolls of the Paracels (occupied by China and claimed by Vietnam) and the Spratly (claimed entirely by China, Vietnam, Taiwan, and only partly by Brunei, the Philippines and Malaysia), where Beijing has built a series of military infrastructure, positioned missile batteries and where, according to the US, it would be completing air bases.
A few hours after the incident, the Chinese Navy announced the imminent carrying out of naval maneuvers in the South China Sea, which could also take part in the Liaoning, first Chinese aircraft carrier. The ship and its battle group have indeed already across the Taiwan Strait, and are headed to the South China Sea.
The episode, which is fully part of the recent tightening of trade and diplomatic relations between the US and China, has been defined by a Chinese defense spokeswoman as "a provocation that seriously damaged Chinese sovereignty and security, violated the basic norms of international law and undermined regional peace and stability ".
(photo: US Navy)
