U.S. Warship Dismisses China's 'Excessive' Claim Near Spratly Islands

The United States military sailed a warship near a fortified artificial island in the South China Sea on Monday in order to challenge the Chinese government's unlawful claim to all its surrounding waters, according to the U.S. Navy.

The USS Milius, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, "engaged in 'normal operations' within 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef," the Navy's Seventh Fleet said in a statement, after which the vessel "exited the excessive claim area and continued operations in the South China Sea."

The maritime feature is among three the U.S. believes have been fully militarized by China in the past decade, alongside Subi Reef and Fiery Cross Reef, all in the Spratly Island group. Recent aerial images have revealed extensive infrastructure including runways, hangars, and radars as well as anti-air and anti-ship capabilities.

Beijing has used its claim to every feature in the energy-rich sea to draw straight baselines around archipelagos like the Paracel and Spratly Islands in an attempt to restrict navigation by foreign vessels. It has hindered the lawful commercial activity of other less powerful claimants in the area, in particular the Philippines and Vietnam, with its navy or coast guard. Other nominal claimants of the Spratly Islands include Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Taiwan and Vietnam also claim the Paracel Islands.

Regional capitals, backed by Washington, argue the practice is inconsistent with the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, which China has signed and ratified. Beijing has consistently rejected an international arbitral ruling in 2016 that found its maritime claims to be unlawful.

The April 10 freedom of navigation exercise, or FONOP, in the Spratlys "demonstrated that Mischief Reef, a low-tide elevation in it its natural state, is not entitled to a territorial sea under international law," said the Seventh Fleet. "The land reclamation efforts, installations, and structures built on Mischief Reef do not change this characterization under international law."

"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," it said.

Tian Junli, a spokesperson for the Southern Theater Command of China's People's Liberation Army, said Chinese forces tracked the Milius after it "illegally intruded" into the waters near Mischief Reef "without the approval of the Chinese government."

"China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their surrounding waters," Tian said.

Three weeks earlier, the Milius had challenged China's maritime claims around the Paracels in the Navy's first FONOP of the year, after five such operations in 2022 and five the year before that.

The latest maneuver in the South China Sea came as the Chinese military wrapped up three days of pointed exercises around Taiwan, a response to a meeting on U.S. soil last week between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. The Navy said the two were unrelated.

"The routine and peaceful exercise of rights and freedoms guaranteed to all countries under customary international law of the sea is not provocative. Around the world, the Department of Defense conducts these operations on a regular basis in full compliance with international law," Seventh Fleet spokesperson Cdr. Hayley Sims told Newsweek.

China's defense ministry could not be reached for comment by phone or email.

Greg Poling, director of the Southeast Asia Program and the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said: "The U.S. Freedom of Navigation Program has been around since 1979, and its goal has always been to establish a record of U.S. non-compliance with what the State and Defense departments determine to be illegal maritime claims. FONOPs are just one piece of that program, and they're conducted against allies and adversaries alike all over the world every year."

"It's only in the South China Sea that they've taken on this larger symbolism of U.S. commitment or credibility, but you've seen both the Trump and Biden teams work to dial that back by making them more regular and less publicized. Since 2017, they've happened on a regular schedule and are usually only publicized if and when the Chinese side complains publicly first," he told Newsweek.

"As for the other claimants, their public and media still tend to treat FONOPs as a symbol of U.S. commitment, especially in the Philippines and Vietnam, so there's a ratchet effect in which the U.S. cannot afford to dial back the frequency of operations without causing headlines that it was losing its nerve," Poling said.

"Thus we're stuck with this program that has to continue at the current pace for what is supposed to be a very narrow legal purpose, and which therefore can't actually do anything to resolve or manage the South China Sea tensions," he said.

Do you have a tip on a world news story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about the South China Sea? Let us know via worldnews@newsweek.com.

Update 4/10/23, 11:15 a.m.: This article was updated with further context.