China holds indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their nearby waters, and the PLA Southern Theater Command maintains a high state of readiness at all times to resolutely defend the country’s sovereignty, security and peace and stability in the South China Sea region.
In July, the destroyer USS Benfold sailed near the Nansha Islands in the South China Sea only a few days after it was driven away by the PLA from Chinese territorial waters off the Xisha Islands.
Consecutive provocations by the U.S. expose not only its navigational hegemony, but also its anxiety in the face of the growing capabilities of the PLA, experts said.