A U.S. destroyer performed a freedom of navigation operation in the Spratly Islands on Friday, U.S. 7th Fleet announced.
USS Preble (DDG-88) sailed within 12 nautical miles of Swallow Reef, a Navy official told USNI News.
“The [People’s Republic of China], Vietnam and Taiwan each purport to require, in violation of international law, either permission or advance notification before a military vessel or warship engages in ‘innocent passage’ through their territorial sea,” reads a statement from 7th Fleet.
“The unilateral imposition of any authorization or advance-notification requirement for innocent passage is unlawful. By engaging in innocent passage without giving prior notification to or asking permission from any of the Claimants, the United States challenged these unlawful restriction imposed by the PRC, Taiwan, and Vietnam.”
Swallow Reef sits in the southern Spratlys and is administered by Malaysia. Under Article 19 of the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention, a warship can sail within the 12 nautical-mile territorial sea of another nation’s coastline “so long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal State.”
The U.S. periodically performs freedom of navigation operations across the globe, including in both the Spratly and Paracel island chains in the South China Sea.
The Philippines and Malaysia have each staked claims in parts of the Spratly Islands. Vietnam, Taiwan and China each claim the entire island chain. Brunei says a continental shelf in the island chain is part of its exclusive economic zone, according to the CIA World Factbook. The island chain is about 740 nautical miles from mainland China and 110 nautical miles west of the Philippines’ Palawan Island.
“Unlawful and sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea pose a serious threat to the freedoms 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,” reads the Friday statement from 7th Fleet.
