'SERIOUS VIOLATION OF SOVEREIGNTY': BEIJING WARNS OFF US WARSHIP

  • 05/02/2021

China  warned off a US warship sailing near contested islands in the South China Sea, the first such encounter made public since the inauguration of President Joe Biden.The USS John S McCain "broke into China's Xisha territorial waters without the permission of the Chinese government .The People's Liberation Army "organised naval and air forces to track, monitor and warn off" the warship, the Chinese military said, blasting the US for "seriously violating China's sovereignty" and "harming regional peace."

China lays claim to nearly all of the South China Sea, including the Paracel Islands.Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all also claim parts of the region, believed to hold valuable oil and gas deposits.Further angering those countries, and the US, Beijing has moved to build reefs into artificial islands capable of hosting military planes.

Washington has argued that such exercises are in line with international law and help defend right of passage through the region amid competing claims by China and other governments.





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