'Deliberately disrupted South China Sea': Beijing attacks US after combat ship ‘illegally’ enters territorial waters

After an American warship navigated in disputed South China Sea waters, China on Monday criticised the US, highlighting the continued military tensions between the two countries. According to South China Morning post, citing a statement from the Chinese military, the USS Gabrielle Giffords’ appearance on Monday near the Second Thomas Shoal “seriously violated China’s sovereignty and security.” “The United States has deliberately disrupted the South China Sea, seriously violated China’s sovereignty and security, severely undermined regional peace and stability, and seriously violated international law and basic norms governing international relations," a spokesperson for China’s Southern Theatre Command said in a statement. China refers to Second Thomas Shoal as Renai Reef. Meanwhile, in response to the charge, Commander Megan Greene of the US Seventh Fleet said in a statement said that the US vessel “was conducting routine operations in international waters” that followed international law “These operations demonstrate we are committed to upholding a free and open Indo-Pacific region where all nations, large and small, are secure in their sovereignty, can resolve disputes without coercion and have the freedom to navigate and fly consistent with international laws, rules and norms,” she said in an email to South China Morning Post, adding that the US would not be deterred from continuing to work alongside its allies and partners. Although general relations have stabilised following President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting in the US last month, tensions between the two countries still exist over US military action. Since former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022 — a visit to which the People’s Liberation Army retaliated with never-before-seen military drills — top-level military ties have been severed. Beijing has not yet announced a replacement for fired Defence Minister Li Shangfu, despite US officials stating that China committed to policy-level negotiations with Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin during the Xi-Biden sitdown. According to Bloomberg, there’s a chance that an incident in the South China Sea might turn into a conflict if there’s no contact at all. With inputs from agencies