The US Navy refuted CCP’s lie of “Expelling US warships”

Washington Times reported on July 13th, the CCP military said that the US warships were expelled near the Paracel Islands. The CCP’s Narratives were refuted by the US Navy.

 Lieutenant Nicholas Lingo, the spokesman for the Seventh Fleet, said that the US Navy’s missile destroyer USS Benfold, the Arleigh Burke-class, approached the disputed Paracel Island on Wednesday, advocating rights and freedoms of navigation in the South China Sea in accordance with international law. The US Navy destroyer returned smoothly after completing its mission.

 According to the statement of the Seventh Fleet, the action of operation reflects US commitment to uphold the principle of freedom of navigation and legitimate use of the sea. The United States defends the right of every country to fly, navigate and operate where permitted by international law.

 The statement pointed out that the narratives released by the CCP’s Commander of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is the latest distortion, discrediting the legitimate maritime operations of the United States. The behavior of the PLA is in sharp contrast to the US’s compliance with international Law and vision of freely opening up of the Indo-Pacific region.

 On Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called out a ruling of the Dutch Arbitration Court that rejected the CCP’s claim to own most of the South China Sea in 2016, which is binding on both the CCP and the Philippines. The court’s decision was made after the Philippine government appealed. Beijing rejected the court’s decision, but modified some expansionary claims after the 2016 ruling. However, Mr. Blinken said that the State Department recently prepared a study reviewing the territorial claims made by the CCP after the ruling and regards CCP’s claim illegal. He said, the conclusion of this study is that these reformulated ocean claims by the CCP are still clearly inconsistent with international law.

 Blinken also reiterated the statement made by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2020 that any armed attack on the Armed Forces of the Philippines, public ships or aircraft in the South China Sea will trigger the 1951 U.S- Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty, e.g. if the CCP ignores the court’s ruling, it may conflict with the United States.