Biden Teases China: ‘Freedom of Navigation’ Cruise in Disputed Waters

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The PLA made it real clear that Taiwan still belongs to them and the northwestern part of the South China Sea is off limits to global transit. The Pentagon isn’t willing to accept that. To prove the point, the brass decided to hold a “freedom of navigation operation” right through the disputed waters, taunting Beijing to do something about it. Joe Biden, it seems, is just daring Xi Jinping to go ahead and sink our battleship.

China isn’t going to like this

On Wednesday, July 13, it was reported that a U.S. Naval destroyer “sailed near a disputed South China Sea island chain.” It was a calculated move “challenging the restrictions” slapped down by the Pooh Bear to prevent transit through the Paracel Islands. They put “Xisha Islands” on the label next to them on the Chinese maps.

This isn’t the first little excursion Uncle Sam took through the disputed water. This is the “third targeting Beijing’s ‘excessive maritime claims‘ in regional waters” this year. It’s like Joe is thumbing his nose at Xi Jinping and saying “Cmon Xi, watcha gonna do, nuke us?

This latest round of playground nah-nah-come-and-catch-me foolishness involves guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold. They aren’t just angering China, they have Vietnam annoyed with them, too. Vietnam and Taiwan both claim the disputed chain.

Since Xi Jinping controls Taiwan, he figures 2 of 3 claims gives him right of possession. Meanwhile, “all three governments require military vessels to seek permission or give advance notice of ‘innocent passage‘ through the area.” The U.S. Navy says they’ll sail through any darn time they want and they aren’t asking, their doing.

What everyone is fighting over happens to be a collection of 130 coral islands and reefs. Nobody is stupid enough to even try living on them, and if they did, they wouldn’t live long. Even the military forces stranded there by China to defend the place only total around 1,400 people. Those are the ones who really messed up somehow before they got sent there.

For the past 50 years, the Chinese have claimed title. The PLA’s Southern Theater Command issued a statement notifying the world they “warned” the Benfold to leave their territorial waters.

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A serious violation

Beijing isn’t taking this incident lightly. According to PLA Air Force Colonel Tian Junli, “the actions of the US military have seriously violated China’s sovereignty and security, seriously undermined the peace and stability of the South China Sea, and seriously violated international law and norms of international relations.

Tough, says U.S. 7th Fleet spokesperson, Lieutenant Nicholas Lingo. The Benfold is sailing through international water and her captain “upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international law.

China can go fly a kite, American analysts assure. “Under international law … the ships of all states – including their warships – enjoy the right of innocent passage through the territorial sea. The unilateral imposition of any authorization or advance-notification requirement for innocent passage is unlawful.

The Chinese also get a little extreme with the way they figure the 12-mile territorial limit from each of the separate islands, instead of the middle of the chain.

China isn’t backing down an inch. They haven’t started firing yet but haven’t decided to rule it out either. All they know for sure is things are getting “tense.”

Facts, they say, “once again show that the United States is an out-and-out ‘South China Sea Risk Maker‘ and ‘Disruptors of Regional Peace and Stability,’” They might just have to kick our a$$ over it.

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