POKING BEIJING, US WARSHIP SAILS NEAR SOUTH CHINA SEA FORTS
November 29, 2022 ·Carl Prine
The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser Chancellorsville sails the South China Sea on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022. Chancellorsville irked China by performing a freedom of navigation operation near contested cays in the Spratly Islands. US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Justin Stack.
US 7th Fleet leaders are calling “false” Beijing’s latest gripe about a freedom of navigation operation near the contested Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
On Tuesday, Nov. 29, the guided-missile cruiser Chancellorsville sailed near 18 islets and cays occupied by China, although Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei also claim them.
According to China’s military, the warship came closest to the Gaven Reefs along the Tizard Bank, a fortified sprawl of rocks bristling with search radars, anti-aircraft and naval guns, and anti-ballistic rotary cannons.
“Without the approval of the Chinese government, the guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville illegally entered the waters near the islands and reefs of China’s Nansha Islands on Tuesday,” Senior Col. Tian Junli, spokesman for the People’s Liberation Army Southern Theater Command, said in a prepared statement released to state-controlled media.
“The theater command has organized naval and air forces to track, monitor and warn it off,” he added.
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