A U.S. Navy destroyer conducted a Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP) in the South China Sea on Friday, one day after a Taiwan Strait transit by another warship.
"On November 3, USS Dewey (DDG 105) asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea near the Spratly Islands, consistent with international law," the U.S. 7th Fleet said in a statement.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer has now “exited the excessive claim area and continued operations in the South China Sea,” it said.
On Wednesday night, another destroyer - the USS Rafael Peralta – together with Royal Canadian Navy HMCS Ottawa, sailed through the Taiwan Strait, putting the Chinese military on “high alert.”
Beijing said it “followed and monitored” the transit in order to "resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and regional peace and stability.".
This is the first time in six months the U.S. Navy has performed a FONOP near the contested Spratly Islands. Before this in April, 2023, the USS Milius conducted a FONOP within 12 nautical miles from the artificial island Mischief Reef that China developed and fully militarized.
“Interestingly no specific feature was identified in the 7th Fleet’s announcement,” said Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore.
The U.S. Navy began describing its FONOPs in the South China Sea as “unremarkable” and “routine.”
The South China Sea and the two main archipelagos inside it, Paracel and Spratly Islands, are claimed by a number of regional states including China. Certain countries require foreign military vessels to give notice prior to any transit in their claimed waters.
Regardless of claimant’s identity
“By engaging in innocent passage without giving prior notification to or asking permission from any of the claimants, the United States challenged these unlawful restrictions imposed by the PRC, Taiwan, and Vietnam,” the 7th Fleet’s statement said, referring to China by its official name, the People’s Republic of China.
“Unlawful and sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea pose a serious threat to the freedom of the seas,” it said, “The United States challenges excessive maritime claims around the world regardless of the identity of the claimant.”
Beijing has been blaming the U.S. military for “targeting China” in the South China Sea.
Wu Shicun, President of China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said at a maritime forum in Vietnam last week that all U.S. military operations in “sensitive waters” of the South China Sea “clearly targeted China.”
“Multilateral security structures against China have also emerged one after another in the South China Sea,” Wu said.
Meanwhile, news emerged that a Chinese warplane fired flares at a Canadian shipborne maritime helicopter over the South China Sea last Sunday.
Canadian air officers told a CNN reporter aboard the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Ottawa, which took part in the Taiwan Strait transit on Wednesday, that the flares could have caused the aircraft to crash.
The Sikorsky Cyclone helicopter was searching for a previously detected submarine when the incident occurred, CNN quoted officers aboard the HMCS Ottawa as saying.
On Oct. 29, Canada accused Chinese J-11 fighter jets of aggressively intercepting a Royal Canadian Air Force military airplane over the East China Sea, coming as close as five meters from the Canadian aircraft.
Edited by Elaine Chan and Mike Firn.