China’s military has said it drove down a United States nonmilitary boat that “immorally intruded” into waters near the Spratly islets in the disputed South China Sea.
“The conduct of the US military seriously violated China’s sovereignty and security,” said Tian Junli, spokesperson for the Southern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army.
The US boat, the USS Chancellorsville, a guided bullet sport fisherman, had lately sailed through the Taiwan Strait. There was no immediate comment from the US service.
China claims nearly the entire South China Sea under a nine-gusto line that a transnational court ruled in 2016 had no merit. It has ignored that decision, rather erecting artificial islets and expanding military conditioning in the ocean, which is also claimed by the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, and Taiwan.
Tian indicted the US of being a “security threat maker” in the area, claiming the sailing by the USS Chancellorsville was “another iron-sheathe evidence of its ascendance in the navigation and demilitarization of the South China Sea”.
The Southern Theater Command said on its WeChat social media regard that Chinese colors would remain on “high alert”.
The US has rejected China’s extensive claims in the resource-rich waters.
It has transferred a number of warships through the South China Sea in recent times in what it calls “freedom of navigation” exercises, and also expressed support for an agreement on a list of laws of conduct and other confidence-structure measures.
On a visit last week to Palawan on the edge of the disputed waters, Vice President Kamala Harris said the US would push for a transnational crusade against “reckless geste” in the South China Sea.
“We must stand up for principles similar as respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, disencumbered legal commerce, the peaceful resolution of controversies, and the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, and throughout the Indo-Pacific,” she said in a speech.
China’s artificial islets include at least seven posts in the Spratlys, where it has erected anchorages, service installations, and airports.
