China deploys 2 jets, 3 warships to intercept American destroyer

From Update.Ph (May 11): China deploys 2 jets, 3 warships to intercept American destroyer

The Chinese Defense Ministry said the People’s Liberation Army has dispatched two J-11 fighter jets and three warships – a guided missile destroyer, a guided missile frigate, and a frigate – to intercept a United States vessel that sailed close to Kagitingan (Fiery Cross) Reef in West Philippine Sea and warned it to leave on Tuesday, May 10.

The Chinese ministry said described the move by US military as provocation and intends “to disrupt the regional situation and reap gains from it, and further proved that China’s construction of defense facilities on – islands and reefs in the Spratly Islands is totally justified and very necessary.”

Kagitingan Reef is a Chinese government-held reef, part of Spratly Islands in West Philippine Sea. The Chinese government has created a fake island over the said reef and has built an airfield.

“USS William P. Lawrence exercised the right of innocent passage while transiting inside 12 nautical miles of Fiery Cross Reef, a high-tide feature that is occupied by China, but also claimed by the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam,” US Defense Department said in a statement.

US Defense Department spokesman Bill Urban, in a report from Reuters, said that the pass by Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence was meant to “challenge excessive maritime claims of some claimants in the South China Sea.”

“These excessive maritime claims are inconsistent with international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea convention in that they purport to restrict the navigation rights that the United States and all states are entitled to exercise,” Urban said.

http://www.update.ph/2016/05/china-deploys-2-jets-3-warships-to-intercept-american-destroyer/5487