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.