The Chinese military on Monday accused an American warship of trespassing in the waters near Second Thomas Shoal, a hotspot in the South China Sea that threatens to bring China and the United States into a direct conflict for the very first time.
Maj. Tian Junli, a spokesperson for the Southern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army, stated the USS Gabrielle Giffords did not have the Chinese government’s approval to operate in the Spratly Islands archipelago, calling it “a serious violation of China’s sovereignty and national security.”
The submerged reef in the Spratlys is known as Ayungin Shoal in the Philippines. The U.S.’s oldest ally in Asia maintains de facto control over the area, but China, which calls the feature Ren’ai Reef, is making moves to potentially wrest control from its neighbor.
China’s territorial dispute with the Philippines is escalating as the latter—backed by the U.S.—pushes back against Beijing’s claim over most of the energy-rich South China Sea. Just last month, Chinese coast guard ships boxed in Philippine government vessels en route to the reef and blasted them with water cannons.
The Gabrielle Giffords is one of the U.S. Navy’s Independence-class littoral combat ships, a small, agile warship designed to operate closer to the coast. Littoral states in the South China Sea lack exactly its type of capability to patrol the area’s myriad disputed features.
The PLA spokesperson said Chinese forces monitored and warned the Gabrielle Giffords as it made its way past Second Thomas Shoal. Washington was “intentionally stirring up trouble in the South China Sea,” he said.
The U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet, which is based in Japan, rejected the accusation, stating the Gabrielle Giffords had been “conducting routine operations in international waters in the South China Sea, consistent with international law,” USNI News reported on Monday.
Neither side reported any dangerous or unprofessional behavior during the encounter.
Collin Koh, a maritime security expert at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said on X (formerly Twitter) that the U.S. warship’s presence near Second Thomas Shoal could have been a response to China’s “harassment” of Philippine resupply missions to the atoll in recent months.
In 1999, Manila grounded World War II-era tank landing ship the BRP Sierra Madre at Second Thomas Shoal in order to stake its claim there, but the active-duty warship risks falling into disrepair amidst Beijing’s objections to any maintenance.
China says the ship’s presence is illegal and has accused the U.S. of pushing its ally’s claim to the disputed area. The Philippines says China is violating international law by continuing to assert total control over the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, an area extending 200 miles from its coastline.
The Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords carries out routine operations in the South China Sea on May 19, 2020. The Chinese military accused the Gabrielle Giffords of trespassing in waters near Second Thomas Shoal on December 4, » …
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