BEIJING/HONG KONG: China scrambled fighter jets on Tuesday as a US navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea, a patrol China denounced as an illegal threat to peace which only went to show its defense installations in the area were necessary.
Guided missile destroyer the USS William P. Lawrence traveled within 12 nautical miles of Chinese-occupied Fiery Cross Reef, US Defense Department spokesman, Bill Urban said.
The so-called freedom of navigation operation was undertaken to “challenge excessive maritime claims” by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam which were seeking to restrict navigation rights in the South China Sea, Urban said.
“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 in an e-mailed statement.
China and the United States have traded accusations of militarizing the South China Sea as China undertakes large-scale land reclamations and construction on disputed features while the United States has increased its patrols and exercises.
Facilities on Fiery Cross Reef include a 3,000-meter (10,000-foot) runway which the United States worries China will use it to press its extensive territorial claims at the expense of weaker rivals.
China’s Defense Ministry said two fighter jets were scrambled and three warships shadowed the US ship, telling it to leave.
The US patrol “again proves that China’s construction of defensive facilities on the relevant reefs in the Nansha Islands is completely reasonable and totally necessary,” it said, using China’s name for the Spratly Islands where much of its reclamation work is taking place.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the US ship illegally entered Chinese waters.
“This action by the US side threatened China’s sovereignty and security interests, endangered the staff and facilities on the reef, and damaged regional peace and stability,” he told a daily news briefing.
SENSITIVE AREA
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims.
The Pentagon last month called on China to reaffirm it has no plans to deploy military aircraft in the Spratly Islands after China used a military plane to evacuate sick workers from Fiery Cross.
“Fiery Cross is sensitive because it is presumed to be the future hub of Chinese military operations in the South China Sea, given its already extensive infrastructure, including its large and deep port and 3000-meter runway,” said Ian Storey, a South China Sea expert at Singapore’s ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute.
“The timing is interesting, too. It is a show of US determination ahead of President Obama’s trip to Vietnam later this month.”
Speaking in Vietnam, Daniel Russel, assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, said freedom of navigation operations were important for smaller nations.
“If the world’s most powerful navy cannot sail where international law permits, then what happens to the ships of navy of smaller countries?,” Russel told reporters before news of the operation was made public.
China has reacted with anger to previous US freedom of navigation operations, including the overflight of fighter planes near the disputed Scarborough Shoal last month, and when long-range US bombers flew near Chinese facilities under construction on Cuarteron Reef in the Spratlys last November.
US naval officials believe China has plans to start reclamation and construction activities on Scarborough Shoal, which sits further north of the Spratlys within the Philippines claimed 200 nautical mile (370 km) exclusive economic zone.
A tough-talking city mayor, Rodrigo Duterte, looks set to become president of the Philippines after an election on Monday. He has proposed multilateral talks on the South China Sea.
A Chinese diplomat warned last week that criticism of China over the South China Sea would rebound like a coiled spring.
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China scrambles fighters as US warship sails near disputed reef
China scrambles fighters as US warship sails near disputed reef
Denmark and Greenland play it cool to chill Trump
COPENHAGEN: After weathering Donald Trump’s repeated threats to take control of Greenland, Copenhagen and Nuuk want to restore a bit of calm ahead of the Danish general election this month, observers say.
“The tensions were very high in January with arguments flying... There needed to be some kind of de-escalation,” Astrid Andersen, a historian at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), told AFP.
The war of words over the territory, which Trump has said that the United States needs for its “national security,” has eased somewhat.
Denmark and Greenland hope that a NATO mission to bump up defense cooperation to counter Russia and China influence in the Arctic, as well as a diplomatic working group taking in Washington, Nuuk and Copenhagen, might take some of the sting out of the issue.
“The meetings on a diplomatic level take the temperature a notch down. And so the strategy now seems to be to keep it there and try to avoid arguing through the media and social media,” Andersen said.
Yet US interest in the vast Arctic territory has not waned, and the red line on the Greenlandic — and Danish — side remains the same: any transfer of sovereignty is off the table.
President Trump’s recent proposal to send a US hospital ship to Greenland to help make up for shortcomings in the local health system was met with a firm rejection, but did not seem to deteriorate the situation.
“The Danish government will do everything it can to keep things calm,” polar geopolitics researcher Mikaa Mered said.
Denmark goes to the polls on March 24, with Greenlanders electing two MPs to the Danish parliament.
The Arctic island, a Danish colony for three centuries, still has a complicated relationship with Copenhagen, which now rules it as an autonomous territory.
While disagreeing on how to get there, Greenland’s main political parties all want independence, but in the face of pressure from Trump, Greenland and Denmark have presented a united front.
“This is the first time there has been such close cooperation between Copenhagen and Nuuk,” said Julie Rademacher, chair of the National Organization for Greenlanders in Denmark.
“We have to start our reconciliation process today,” Rademacher said, even if she conceded there was a risk that scars from the past would be exploited by the Trump administration.
Greenlandic politician Aqqaluk Lynge, founder of the Greenlandic left-wing party Inuit Ataqatigiit, believes that Copenhagen and Nuuk need to exercise caution.
“We have to be very careful about everything,” he said.
The former minister advocates stronger ties with Copenhagen, fearing that Trump will co-opt Greenland’s dreams of independence.
“He will use everything,” he said. “We must make sure these elections are not influenced by the United States.”
- Thorny issues on hold -
In Nuuk, civil society is treading carefully, afraid that their words will be appropriated by Washington.
This has led to some sensitive issues being put to the side — at least temporarily.
One of the most contentious is the campaign of forced contraception imposed on young Greenlandic women by Danish authorities from the late 1960s to 1991.
Denmark issued a formal apology in the summer of 2025 and promised compensation to the victims.
A report examining the legal implications of the human rights violations — especially whether they can be classified as genocide — was submitted to the Greenlandic government in early February but has not yet been made public.
“If the conclusion points to genocide, then it’s bound to create some new waves,” Andersen said.
“The governments will have to deal with that, and the Trump administration will most likely try to use that too,” she added.
A highly-choreographed Greenland visit last month by Denmark’s King Frederik X helped project the image of a united Kingdom of Denmark, which consists of Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
“Part of his visit was of course also meant to create nice counter-images to the US... Images of the king being welcomed in Greenland that are meant to demonstrate that the relations with Denmark are strong and positive,” Andersen said.
“The tensions were very high in January with arguments flying... There needed to be some kind of de-escalation,” Astrid Andersen, a historian at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), told AFP.
The war of words over the territory, which Trump has said that the United States needs for its “national security,” has eased somewhat.
Denmark and Greenland hope that a NATO mission to bump up defense cooperation to counter Russia and China influence in the Arctic, as well as a diplomatic working group taking in Washington, Nuuk and Copenhagen, might take some of the sting out of the issue.
“The meetings on a diplomatic level take the temperature a notch down. And so the strategy now seems to be to keep it there and try to avoid arguing through the media and social media,” Andersen said.
Yet US interest in the vast Arctic territory has not waned, and the red line on the Greenlandic — and Danish — side remains the same: any transfer of sovereignty is off the table.
President Trump’s recent proposal to send a US hospital ship to Greenland to help make up for shortcomings in the local health system was met with a firm rejection, but did not seem to deteriorate the situation.
“The Danish government will do everything it can to keep things calm,” polar geopolitics researcher Mikaa Mered said.
Denmark goes to the polls on March 24, with Greenlanders electing two MPs to the Danish parliament.
The Arctic island, a Danish colony for three centuries, still has a complicated relationship with Copenhagen, which now rules it as an autonomous territory.
While disagreeing on how to get there, Greenland’s main political parties all want independence, but in the face of pressure from Trump, Greenland and Denmark have presented a united front.
“This is the first time there has been such close cooperation between Copenhagen and Nuuk,” said Julie Rademacher, chair of the National Organization for Greenlanders in Denmark.
“We have to start our reconciliation process today,” Rademacher said, even if she conceded there was a risk that scars from the past would be exploited by the Trump administration.
Greenlandic politician Aqqaluk Lynge, founder of the Greenlandic left-wing party Inuit Ataqatigiit, believes that Copenhagen and Nuuk need to exercise caution.
“We have to be very careful about everything,” he said.
The former minister advocates stronger ties with Copenhagen, fearing that Trump will co-opt Greenland’s dreams of independence.
“He will use everything,” he said. “We must make sure these elections are not influenced by the United States.”
- Thorny issues on hold -
In Nuuk, civil society is treading carefully, afraid that their words will be appropriated by Washington.
This has led to some sensitive issues being put to the side — at least temporarily.
One of the most contentious is the campaign of forced contraception imposed on young Greenlandic women by Danish authorities from the late 1960s to 1991.
Denmark issued a formal apology in the summer of 2025 and promised compensation to the victims.
A report examining the legal implications of the human rights violations — especially whether they can be classified as genocide — was submitted to the Greenlandic government in early February but has not yet been made public.
“If the conclusion points to genocide, then it’s bound to create some new waves,” Andersen said.
“The governments will have to deal with that, and the Trump administration will most likely try to use that too,” she added.
A highly-choreographed Greenland visit last month by Denmark’s King Frederik X helped project the image of a united Kingdom of Denmark, which consists of Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
“Part of his visit was of course also meant to create nice counter-images to the US... Images of the king being welcomed in Greenland that are meant to demonstrate that the relations with Denmark are strong and positive,” Andersen said.
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