US and China create more tension over movement in the S. China Sea

World Today

A Pentagon spokesman doesn’t deny that a U.S. warship deliberately came within 12 miles of the Paracel Islands, but the U.S. does not recognize China’s claim to the region, saying they are challenging what they label “excessive” attempts to restrict navigation in the South China Sea.

CCTV America’s Sean Callebs reports.

U.S. Senator John McCain, a Republican from the U.S. state of Arizona, and Chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, said the following in a statement that addressed the U.S. Navy’s freedom of navigation operation near Triton Island in the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea:

“I am encouraged to hear that the U.S. Navy has conducted a freedom of navigation operation near Triton Island in the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. This operation challenged excessive maritime claims that restrict the rights and freedoms of the United States and other nations under international law. I continue to hope these operations will become so routine that China and other claimants will come to accept them as normal occurrences and releasing press statements to praise them will no longer be necessary.”