The Chinese military said it "tracked, warned and expelled" an American missile destroyer from the waters around the disputed Paracel Islands on Friday, shortly before the U.S. Navy said one of its ships had challenged China's "sweeping maritime claims" in the South China Sea.
China's Southern Theater Command said the USS Halsey "illegally intruded" into the territorial waters around the archipelago, which Beijing calls Xiasha and administers as part of its southernmost province of Hainan.
Col. Tian Junli, a military spokesperson, accused the United States of "a serious infringement of China's sovereignty and security," calling the geopolitical rival "the biggest destroyer of peace" in the region.
The Paracels are surrounded by fishing grounds and suspected oil and gas reserves. They were partly held by Vietnam, which calls them Hoang Sa, until China seized all the islands and reef in a naval battle in 1974. Taiwan also claims the territory.
"The PRC's statement about this mission is false," a spokesperson for the U.S. Seventh Fleet told Newsweek, referring to the People's Republic of China.
The Halsey conducted a freedom of navigation operation, or FONOP, "in accordance with international law and then continued on to conduct normal operations in waters beyond the territorial sea. The operation reflects our commitment to uphold freedom of navigation and lawful uses of the sea as a principle," the statement said.
"The United States is defending every nation's right to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, as USS Halsey did here. Nothing the PRC says otherwise will deter us," the spokesperson said.
China's military main base in the Paracels is located on Woody Island, known as Yongxing in Chinese, where installations include "an airstrip with fighter aircraft hangers, naval facilities, surveillance radars, and defenses such as surface-to-air missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles," according to the CIA's World Factbook.
Woody Island's population is estimated to be over 1,000, according to the intelligence assessment. China has built 20 outposts on the other features it occupies.
The U.S., while taking no position on sovereignty over the Paracels or other disputed territories in the South China Sea, has long challenged China's decision to declare a "straight baseline" around the archipelago, in effect expanding its territorial sea limits by several large maritime zones.
"Unlawful and sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea pose a serious threat to the freedom of the seas, including the freedoms of navigation and overflight, free trade and unimpeded commerce, and freedom of economic opportunity for South China Sea littoral nations," the Seventh Fleet, which is based on Japan, said in a statement.
"Regardless of which claimant has sovereignty over these islands, it is unlawful to draw straight baselines around the Paracel Islands in their entirety," the Navy said, calling it a violation under provisions of the United Nations' 1982 Law of the Sea Treaty.
"Furthermore, international law does not permit continental State, like the PRC, to establish baselines around entire dispersed island groups. With these baselines, the PRC has attempted to claim more internal waters, territorial sea, exclusive economic zone, and continental shelf than it is entitled to under international law," the statement said.
The Halsey's operation was the Navy's first such maneuver of the year in the region, after four in 2023, bookended by the USS Hopper's FONOP in the Paracel Islands in November.
China's statement included an image of a Chinese sailor observing the Halsey as it sailed in the South China Sea.
The Halsey, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, drawing protests from China.
On May 8, the Pentagon released an annual report detailing all FONOPs conducted in the fiscal year 2023—October 1 through September 30.
"U.S. forces operationally challenged 29 different excessive maritime claims advanced by 17 different claimants throughout the world," it said.
The document detailed disagreements with various legal requirements imposed by Cambodia, Colombia, Croatia, China, the Dominican Republic, Iran, Japan, Latvia, the Maldives, Malta, Oman, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, and Yemen.
Update 5/10/24, 7:32 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
John Feng is Newsweek's contributing editor for Asia based in Taichung, Taiwan. His focus is on East Asian politics. He ... Read more
