Before the cries of unidentified flying objects found in US and Canadian airspace had died down a bit, Beijing announced on Thursday that its army had expelled the US guided-missile destroyer USS Milius after it entered its southern sea, noting that his forces warned the warship “that it must leave” the waters over which Beijing seeks to extend its sovereignty. On the other hand, the US military denied China’s claim and confirmed that the ship is “performing normal operations … and has not been expelled.”
China wants to extend its near-total sovereignty over its South Sea, a strategic waterway that carries trillions of dollars of trade every year, despite an international court ruling that found China’s claims unfounded.
The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei also claim parts of the sea, while the United States sends ships belonging to their navies to ensure freedom of navigation in international waters.
In this regard, the Southern Operational Command of the People’s Liberation Army of China said that the American destroyer USS Milius, equipped with guided missiles, entered the waters surrounding the Paracel Islands, also claimed by Vietnam, on Thursday.
Spokesperson Tian Junli said the Chinese military “organized naval and air forces to observe and control (the ship) in accordance with the law” and “warned them to leave.”
He added that the ship “illegally entered China’s territorial waters … without the permission of the Chinese government, which caused damage to peace and stability” in the region.
On the other hand, the US military was quick to refute China’s claim, explaining that “the claims of the People’s Republic of China are false.”
A spokesman for the US Indo-Pacific Command confirmed that the ship is “conducting routine operations in the South China Sea and has not been jettisoned.” “The United States will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows,” he added.
In parallel with emphasizing its claims in the South China Sea, the Chinese authorities over the past few years have built artificial islands that include a number of military installations and stands.
Countries in the region have accused Chinese ships of harassing their fishing boats.
And in February last year, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said his country’s authorities “have no indication that the three objects dropped by the army are part of China’s spy balloon program.”
This happened as part of Washington’s efforts to contain the escalation of the diplomatic crisis with Beijing due to unidentified flying objects detected in US and Canadian airspace. Beijing, for its part, confirmed that one of them is a civil balloon used for research purposes, in particular for meteorology.
As worries reign in the United States after a large white Chinese balloon was seen flying over a number of secret nuclear facilities, the White House tried to contain a deepening diplomatic crisis with Beijing by announcing that initial indications were that three unidentified flying the objects that were shot down by US fighters were not linked to the Chinese balloon spying program.
And this ball was dropped by an American fighter on the fourth of February off the east coast of the country.
As a result of this incident, the US military changed the criteria for controlling radar devices so that they could detect smaller objects, resulting in the discovery of three more unidentified flying objects that US President Joe Biden ordered to shoot down in turn.
One of these objects was dropped over Alaska, the second – over Canada, and the third – over Lake Heron, located on the coast of Michigan.
There have been many theories in Congress, the media, and even the general public about the nature of these balloons, and they have ranged from considering them a coordinated Chinese spy operation to the alien hypothesis.
However, many officials are now pointing out that the three new flying objects do not appear to be of Chinese origin and do not involve espionage.
Kirby noted that the three objects “may just be airships associated with commercial or research organizations and therefore harmless” and appears to support the latter hypothesis.
China denies using balloons for espionage and says a balloon shot down off the coast was for weather research, while another balloon seen over Latin America was used for flight training, according to Beijing. Chinese authorities have accused Washington of deploying American spy balloons over its territory, which US officials have denied.
Comprehensive study
A spokesman for the National Security Council said that, given the poor weather and geographic conditions on the three occasions, “we understand that it may take some time to locate and recover the crash site.”
How to set standards for US Army radar remains to be seen. If it turns out that the three downed sites are private companies, that is, non-hostile, then the Pentagon will have to decide whether to respond with such intensity during each surveillance operation.
Asked if Biden overreacted and would be ashamed if it turned out that the three dropped objects weren’t harmful, like weather balloons, Jean-Pierre said, “I don’t think the president would be embarrassed,” stressing that Biden took steps to ensure “our airspace, our civilian airspace, remains safe.”
