Washington will not back down from its view that the US military has every right to operate in the South China Sea. This was stated by the Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Robert O’Brien during a speech at a videoconference organized by the Atlantic Council of Washington.
“The United States is not going to retreat from its long-standing principle that the world’s sea routes and international waters should be free for navigation,” he said in his speech, which was broadcast on August 28 in Twitter… The same applies to air and outer space.
O’Brien expressed regret that Beijing decided to continue its aggressive actions in such conditions.
Also, Trump’s aide clarified that China decided to annex a vast strip of the western Pacific Ocean and declare it its territorial waters, almost as if it were about Lake Tahoe, located somewhere near Beijing.
On August 27, Pentagon chief Mark Esper said that the launch of ballistic missiles by China would further destabilize the situation in the South China Sea.
The next day, the Chinese army expelled the US destroyer Mustin DVC, which invaded the territorial waters of the PRC near the military training area in the South China Sea in the Paracel Islands region.