Two US warships sail through Taiwan Strait in challenge to China

Destroyers William P Lawrence and Stethem transited through the waterway on Sunday as Pentagon ups the ante with Beijing

Reuters

The guided-missile destroyer USS Stethem, pictured, sailed through the Taiwan Strait with USS William P Lawrence on Sunday. 

The US military has sent two navy warships through the Taiwan Strait as the Pentagon increases the frequency of movement through the strategic waterway despite opposition from China.
Sunday’s voyage risks further raising tensions with China but will likely be viewed by Taiwan as a sign of support from the Trump administration amid growing friction between Taipei and Beijing.

Taiwan is one of a growing number of flashpoints in the US-China relationship, which also include a trade war, US sanctions and China’s increasingly muscular military posture in the South China Sea, where the United States also conducts freedom-of-navigation patrols.
The two destroyers were identified as the William P Lawrence and Stethem. 

The 180km-wide (112-mile) Taiwan Strait separates Taiwan from China.
“The ships’ transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Commander Clay Doss, a spokesman for the US navy’s seventh fleet, said in a statement.
Doss said there were no unsafe or unprofessional interactions with other countries’ vessels during the transit.
Taiwan’s defence ministry said the US ships had sailed north through the strait.
“US ships freely passing through the Taiwan Strait is part of the mission of carrying out the Indo-Pacific strategy,” it said in a statement.
There was no immediate comment from China.
The United States has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help provide the island with the means to defend itself and is its main source of arms.
The Pentagon says Washington has sold Taipei more than $15bn in weaponry since 2010.
China has been ramping up pressure to assert its sovereignty over the island, which it considers a wayward province of “one China” and "sacred" Chinese territory.
It said a recent Taiwan Strait passage by a French warship, first reported by Reuters on Wednesday, was “illegal”.
Beijing’s concerns about Taiwan are likely to factor strongly into this year’s Chinese defense budget, following a stern New Year’s speech from Xi Jinping, threatening to attack Taiwan should it not accept Chinese rule.
China has repeatedly sent military aircraft and ships to circle the island on drills in the past few years and worked to isolate it internationally, whittling down its few remaining diplomatic allies.

US warships sail through the Taiwan Strait again, putting pressure on Beijing

• Two US Navy warships — the destroyer USS Stethem and the fleet oiler USNS Cesar Chavez — conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit Monday.
• The passage sent the message to Beijing that the US will "fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows" and that these trips through the closely watched waterway will occur regularly.
• Monday's trip marks the fourth since October and the fifth since the US Navy restarted the practice of sending surface combatants through the strait last July.
• Chinese warships trailed the US ships.
• News of the latest transit comes as the Trump administration announces that the US and China are close to an agreement on trade.

By Ryan Pickrell

Two US Navy warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Monday, sending a message to Beijing, which has warned the US to "tread lightly" in the closely watched waterway.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Stethem and the replenishment oiler USNS Cesar Chavez navigated a "routine" Taiwan Strait transit Monday, the US Pacific Fleet told Business Insider in an emailed statement.
"The ships' transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The US Navy will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows," the Pacific Fleet said.
The two US Navy vessels that passed through the Taiwan Strait were shadowed by People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) warships.
The passage is the fourth since October and the fifth since the US Navy restarted the practice of sending surface combatants through the strait last July.
The Taiwan Strait is a roughly 80-mile international waterway that separates the democratic island from the communist mainland, and China regularly bristles when US Navy vessels sail through. When a US destroyer and a fleet oiler transited the strait in January, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the passage "provocative behavior," accusing the US of "threatening the safety" of those nearby.
Beijing considers Taiwan, a self-ruled territory, to be a renegade province, and it firmly opposes US military support for the island, be that arms sales, protection assurances, or even just the US military operating in the area. 

China has repeatedly urged the US to keep its distance from Taiwan, but the US Navy has continued its "routine" trips through the strait. 

"We see the Taiwan Strait as another (stretch of) international waters, so that's why we do the transits," Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson said in January.
The rhetoric used by the Navy to characterize the Taiwan Strait transits is almost identical to that used to describe US freedom-of-navigation operations (FONOPs) in the South China Sea.
The Navy has already conducted two FONOPs this year, angering Beijing both times.

Chinese Aggressions

US sets schedule for patrols in South China Sea for the first time, plans to increase operations

By Nirmal Ghosh

Construction is shown on Mischief Reef, in the Spratly Islands, the disputed South China Sea in this March 11, 2017, satellite image released by CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Inititative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Construction is shown on Fiery Cross Reef, in the Spratly Islands, the disputed South China Sea in this June 16, 2017 satellite image released by CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

WASHINGTON -- The US Pacific Command has for the first time developed a schedule for naval patrols in the South China Sea, with freedom of navigation operations (FONOPS) two or three times over the next few months, a report said on Friday (Sept 1), quoting unnamed US officials.
This would mark a considered approach to FONOPS in the disputed South China Sea, the Wall Street Journal reported. 

China claims the maritime zone virtually in its entirety, but Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines also have claims there.
China has called previous FONOPS by the US provocative. 

There have been three so far under President Donald Trump, and four under the previous Barack Obama administration.
China reacted sharply to a US patrol on July 2, when the American destroyer USS Stethem passed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island in the Paracels chain. 

The destroyer had “trespassed” China’s territorial waters, China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. 

But Admiral Harry Harris, chief of the US Pacific Command, has publicly favoured more FONOPS.
The last such operation was conducted on Aug 10 near Mischief Reef, one of several features in the Spratlys chain that had been fortified by China. 

In that operation, the destroyer USS John McCain was accompanied by two P-8 Poseidon maritime reconnaissance aircraft, officials told the Wall Street Journal, adding that air support may be a regular feature of future FONOPS.
Notwithstanding an apparently warm start to the personal relationship between President Trump and Xi Jinping, China and the US are still feeling their way in a relationship which under Mr Trump, has become prickly over the issue of trade and North Korea.
The US wants to cut its trade deficit with China, and also wants Beijing to lean on North Korea to pressure the Pyongyang regime to curb its nuclear and missile programmes – and Mr Trump has linked the two issues.
Meanwhile on Thursday, Vietnam objected to Chinese drills in the Gulf of Tonkin, just north of the South China Sea. 

In a statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Thi Thu Hang said “Vietnam proposes China to cease and refrain from repeating acts that complicate the situation in the East Sea (South China Sea).”

In July, China had pressured Hanoi to suspend oil drilling in waters also claimed by China.

Chinese Aggressions

USS Stethem Conducts Freedom of Navigation Operation Past Triton Island in South China Sea
By Sam LaGrone

USS Stethem (DDG-63) operating in the Pacific on March 22, 2017. US Navy Photo
A U.S. destroyer came within 12 nautical miles of a Chinese holding in the South China Sea, a U.S. defense official told USNI News on Sunday morning.
USS Stethem (DDG-63) passed by Triton Island in the Paracel Island chain on Sunday to test claims by not only Bejing but also Vietnam, the official confirmed to USNI News.
Since the Trump administration has begun testing excessive maritime claims in the South China Sea, Pentagon officials have repeatedly said they would not confirm reports of freedom of navigation operations outside of the yearly report that outlines the operations.
“U.S. forces operate in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region on a daily basis, including in the South China Sea. All operations are conducted in accordance with international law and demonstrate that the United States will fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows. That is true in the South China Sea as in other places around the globe,” U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Matt Knight said in a statement to USNI News on Sunday.
“We conduct routine and regular FONOPs, as we have done in the past and will continue to do in the future. Summaries of these operations are released publicly in the annual DoD Freedom of Navigation Report, and not sooner.”
The passage was first reported Sunday morning by Fox News. 

Fox reported a Chinese warship shadowed Stethem during the transit.
While Pentagon officials are reticent to confirm details, it is likely Stethem conducted an innocent passage past Triton and tested Chinese requirement for prior notification before entering "territorial waters" and Beijing’s expansive claims around the Paracel Island chain.
“China claims illegal straight baselines that encircle the entire island group,” James Kraska, a professor of international law, oceans law and policy at the U.S. Naval War College’s Stockton Center for the Study of International Law told USNI News last year.
In October, USS Decatur (DDG-73) conducted a freedom of navigation operation that tested just the baseline. 

Vietnam also has claims to the territory which China has occupied since the 1970s.
In early 2016, USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54) came within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island in the Paracels — without prior notification.

CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative/DigitalGlobe Photo
“This operation challenged attempts by China to restrict navigation rights and freedoms around the features they claim by policies that require prior permission or notification of transit within territorial seas. The excessive claims regarding Triton Island are inconsistent with international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention,” the Pentagon said at the time.
Stethem’s transit follows a May operation in which USS Dewey (DDG-105) passed within six nautical miles of the Chinese installation on Mischief Reef in the boldest statement the U.S. has made to date in challenging China’s claims to its artificial islands.
Without prior notification, Dewey came within six nautical miles of Mischief Reef and conducted a man-overboard drill as part of the test of Chinese claims.
While China’s militarization of its chain of artificial islands in the Spratly Islands chain closer to the Philippines have drawn the most international concern, Beijing has also been installing military equipment in its Paracel Island chain closer to Vietnam.
USNI News understands in May the Office of the Secretary of Defense presented the National Security Council a schedule for future regional FON ops to create a menu of options for the NSC to choose from when U.S. assets are in the region.

The following is the July 2, 2017 complete statement from U.S. Pacific Fleet to USNI News.
U.S. forces operate in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region on a daily basis, including in the South China Sea. 

All operations are conducted in accordance with international law and demonstrate that the United States will fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows. 

That is true in the South China Sea as in other places around the globe.
We have a comprehensive Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOP) program under which U.S. Forces challenge excessive maritime claims across the globe to demonstrate our commitment to uphold the rights, freedoms, and uses of the sea and airspace guaranteed to all nations under international law.
FONOPs are not about any one country, nor are they about making political statements. 

In fiscal year (FY) 2016, we conducted FONOPs challenging excessive maritime claims of 22 different coastal States, including claims of allies and partners.
We conduct routine and regular FONOPs, as we have done in the past and will continue to do in the future. 

Summaries of these operations are released publicly in the annual DoD Freedom of Navigation Report, and not sooner.

US Navy Destroyer Conducts Freedom of Navigation Operation Near China-Held Island

Just 39 days after a first operation, the Trump administration authorizes a second FONOP in the South China Sea.
By Ankit Panda

On Sunday, a U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, USS Stethem, sailed within 12 nautical miles of a China-occupied island in the South China Sea. 

Specifically, the U.S. Navy destroyer sailed near Triton Island, a China-held island in the disputed Paracel group, also claimed by Vietnam.
Sunday’s operation marks the second freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) by the Trump administration since the late-May operation by USS Dewey near Mischief Reef, which is one of China’s seven artificial islands in the Spratly Group.
According to reports, USS Stethem sailed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island on Sunday. Though the U.S. Navy has not released any official details regarding what excessive maritime claims the operation sought to challenge, there is precedent for an operation at Triton Island.
The United States previously conducted a FONOP near Triton Island in January 2016, when USS Curtis Wilbur challenged China’s prior notification requirements by conducting an innocent passage around the feature.
The Paracel Islands present a different case from the Spratlys because China has long maintained illegal straight baselines around its features. 

It has additionally occupied the Paracel features since the 1970s.
Beijing’s occupation of features in the Spratlys is more recent and its development of large-scale artificial islands there began in late-2013.
Sunday’s operation will may draw extra scrutiny given a series of other actions taken by the Trump administration in recent days that may be suggestive of a change in approach by the United States to the U.S.-China relations.
As I discussed on Friday, the Trump administration announced a new arms package for Taiwan, slapped a Chinese bank with sanctions for working with North Korea, and had earlier downgraded China’s standing in a human trafficking report released by the U.S. Department of State.
These developments, combined with the unusually short interval of just 39 days between the Dewey operation and the Stethem operation, are suggestive of the United States carrying out the operation to seek leverage over China potentially with regard to North Korea — especially ahead of a scheduled phone call between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping on Sunday evening.
The U.S. Navy’s FON program, however, is a legal signaling tool and not designed to either deter or coerce claimants — in the South China Sea and elsewhere.