China Sends Naval Forces to Monitor US Warship Near Disputed Shoal

China's ‌military said on Tuesday it had sent forces to watch a U.S. warship that "illegally" entered waters around a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.

China views almost all of the ‌busy waterway as its own territory, despite overlapping claims by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam, with recent tension most pronounced ⁠between Beijing and Manila.

The Chinese military's Southern Theatre Commmand said the Charleston "illegally intruded" into waters adjacent to ⁠Sabina Shoal in the Spratly Islands without Chinese government approval in the early hours of Tuesday.

"The US action infringes upon China's ‌sovereign rights and interests, jeopardizes maritime security, and is detrimental to regional ‌peace and stability," it said in a statement.

What the Communist Chinese did with the Spratly Islands is fully deserving of freedom of navigation voyages.

That is something I support using our military resources to be involved in.

We should do as many as we can operationally support. What they have done is contrary to all international law, and they are hoping nobody stands up to them.

They did it because they assumed the Philippines would be unable to contest it, but to their credit, they try in any way they can.

One would think that the Green movement would be up in arms....

• Artificial Island Construction & Dredging: China built over 3,000 to 3,200 acres of artificial land across multiple coral reefs (such as Mischief Reef and Subi Reef) using cutter suction and trailing hopper dredgers. This process buried or destroyed tens of thousands of acres of living coral reefs.

• Sediment Plumes: Massive dredging generated heavy sediment and silt plumes spanning hundreds of square kilometers. These plumes smothered nearby coral ecosystems, blocked sunlight, and reduced biological health and chlorophyll-a levels up to 20 kilometers away from the reefs.

• Sewage and Waste Discharge: Hundreds of stationary Chinese military, coast guard, and militia vessels anchored around reefs have continuously discharged raw sewage and human waste into the water. This introduces excess nutrients (chlorophyll-a) that trigger harmful algal blooms, deplete vital oxygen, and create localized marine “dead zones”.

• Destructive Harvesting & Poaching: Backed by state subsidies, Chinese fishermen and maritime fleets harvested vulnerable giant clams and red coral using propeller-driven chopper boats, permanently tearing up shallow reef structures.

• Overfishing: Intense commercial and militia fishing fleets reduced regional fish stocks drastically, removing algae-eating fish species that naturally keep coral reefs clean and balanced.

• Legal and International Rulings: In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that China’s island-building campaign caused severe environmental harm and violated the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)

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