An American warship sailed through waters off the contested Spratly Islands in the South China Sea on Thursday, in the latest challenge to Beijing's sweeping territorial claims in the region.

Guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain "asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the Spratly Islands," the US Seventh fleet said in a statement.

"This freedom of navigation operation... upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international law by challenging restrictions on innocent passage imposed by China, Vietnam, and Taiwan," it added.

China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, including the Spratly Islands, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it.

The region is believed to have valuable oil and gas deposits.

Further angering those countries, and the US, Beijing has moved aggressively to build reefs into artificial islands capable of hosting military planes.

The move came amid a rise in US-China tensions over the coronavirus epidemic, in which Washington has accused Beijing of hiding and downplaying the initial outbreak detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

Relations between both countries have been strained on multiple levels since Donald Trump took office 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.

Related Links
Naval Warfare in the 21st Century

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

USS John S. McCain trains with French, Japanese naval forces
Washington DC (UPI) Dec 21, 2020
The USS John S. McCain joined a multinational exercise in the Philippine Sea with French and Japanese ships, the U. S. Navy 7th Fleet announced. The exercise included the French Navy's nuclear-powered submarine Emeraude, Loire-class support and assistance vessel Seine, and the helicopter-carrying destroyer JS Hyūga of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. The exercises focused on anti-submarine warfare tactics among the three navies, a 7th Fleet statement on Friday said. "Anti-s ... read more