U.S. Navy Holds South China Sea FONOP at Scarborough Shoal
An American guided-missile destroyer’s freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) through Scarborough Shoal drew ire from Beijing amid renewed regional tensions following a severe collision incident between Chinese Navy and Coast Guard vessels near the disputed South China Sea maritime feature earlier in the week.
A U.S. 7th Fleet statement read that USS Higgins (DDG 76) transited Beijing’s “excessive claims area” on Wednesday and asserted “navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea.” In a separate statement, the People’s Liberation Army Southern Theater Command claimed that its forces expelled the destroyer from Scarborough Shoal, which China considers to be within its territorial waters.
“The actions of the US military seriously infringed upon China’s sovereignty and security, severely undermined peace and stability in the South China Sea and contravened international law and basic norms governing international relations,” read a statement from Captain He Tiecheng, a spokesperson for the naval forces of the command.
The freedom of navigation operation, the first conducted by the U.S. Navy near Scarborough Shoal since 2019, comes after one of the most severe incidents in the contested waters. On Monday, the China Coast Guard Jiangdao-class patrol vessel collided with the People’s Liberation Army Navy 052D-class destroyer Guilin (164) off Scarborough Shoal during their pursuit of a Philippine Coast Guard patrol boat.