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BFF-19
US-CHINA-MARITIME-MILITARY
Chinese destroyer extremely close to US warship: US
WASHINGTON, Oct 2, 2018 (AFP) – A Chinese warship sailed within yards of an
American destroyer — forcing it to change course — in an “unsafe and
unprofessional” encounter as the US vessel was in contested waters in the
South China Sea, an official said Monday.
The USS Decatur guided-missile destroyer was conducting what the military
calls a “freedom of navigation operation” Sunday, when it passed within 12
nautical miles of Gaven and Johnson reefs in the remote Spratly Islands.
The 12-mile distance is commonly accepted as constituting the territorial
waters of a landmass.
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, though Taiwan, the
Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it.
Beijing claims all of the Spratlys and has built a number of military
installations on the islands.
During the operation, a Chinese Luyang destroyer approached the USS Decatur
in “an unsafe and unprofessional maneuver in the vicinity of Gaven Reef in
the South China Sea,” US Pacific Fleet spokesman Commander Nate Christensen
said.
The Chinese ship then conducted a series of “increasingly aggressive
maneuvers, and warned the Decatur to depart the area,” he added.
The Chinese “destroyer approached within 45 yards (meters) of Decatur’s
bow, after which Decatur maneuvered to prevent a collision.”
In a statement, the Chinese Ministry of Defense said that its ship had
“given a warning to leave” to the vessel after it entered the area “without
permission.”
“The US has repeatedly sent warships into the territorial waters near
Chinese reefs and islands in the South China Sea,” it said.
The behavior “gravely threatens China’s sovereignty and security, gravely
damages relations between China and the US and their militaries, and gravely
injures regional peace and stability.”
US-Chinese relations have been strained on multiple levels since Donald
Trump became president in 2017.
A trade war launched by Trump has infuriated Beijing, as did his
authorization of a $1.3 billion arms sale to Taiwan, which China considers a
rebel province.
Washington last week enacted new tariffs against China covering another
$200 billion of its imports.
China has taken a series of retaliatory measures, including scrapping a US
warship’s planned port visit to Hong Kong and canceling a meeting between the
head of the Chinese navy and his American counterpart.
On Monday, a US defense official said that security talks due to take place
later this month in Beijing between Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and his
Chinese counterpart had been canceled.
BSS/AFP/GMR/1032 hrs