Beijing said that the USS Barry was expelled from their claim in the South China Sea (SCS) when it had a two freedom of navigation operations (FONOPS). But for the most of the operation, the Chinese flip-flopped and kept their distance with any Chinese ship accosting the armed US warship.
Soon after, the Chinese claimed they expelled the American missile-carrying warship that loitered in circles without any incident. Later Chinese rhetoric was a full blast after the Barry left.
The reaction of Beijing was mostly rhetoric without any real teeth as the Chinese Navy was mostly absent or kept a safer distance each time US Ships made a statement by their operations. They claimed that the Chinese territorial water was not theirs but owned by another Asian nation.
People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) made this statement, "The provocative actions of the United States seriously violated relevant international law norms, seriously violated China's sovereignty and security interests, artificially increased regional security risks, and were prone to cause unexpected incidents."
By definition, the word expel is when a contesting US warship goes along its planned navigation route, that is a "straight and unhindered path" that is charted into and sailing out of the Paracel Islands. The Chinese have illegally called it "Xisha", and is considered Chinese territory as it grabs territory while countries fight COVID-19.
The Chinese who sat back said it expelled the US ship, is mistaken because the USS Barry loitered and sail in circles in the Paracel's without any physical opposition from Chinese ships. Furthermore, it sailed in circles, not an in and out, but when the Barry sailed to another mission the Chinese assuaged their position by claiming to expel, not.
Chinese navy statements of provocative, international law norms, sovereignty is not exact.
US FONOPS have been used as a term for years, not like China that has misconstrued statements and wordplay to double down on the meaning to confuse in their claims in the SCS.
Citing International law under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which is more precise than Chinese wordplay and it explains the rules in claiming tacitly.
The Paracels is claimed by China, but it is on a body of water, an island that is formally part of Vietnam. Beijing is claiming territory that belongs to Vietnam rightfully. It cannot claim it or the waters around the Paracels.
Sovereignty is abused by China as the term that it uses when it wants to grab anything they are interested in. It is said that Beijing believes it can bully the world into acknowledging its purloining territories.
When the USS Barry passed through China's illegal straight baselines established in the Paracels, they said, "This is all ours-you need our permission to enter." When the Barry was radioed it went on loitering and challenging the Chinese claims and going on a normal FONOPs as the Chinese were all verbal, with no physical presence at all.
The USS Barry established the needed to stop illegal Chinese activity that is unbalancing the South China Sea. Another ship the USS Bunker Hill did a FONOPS near the Chinese-occupied and claimed feature in the Spratly archipelago further south. There was the same impotent response by the Chinese Navy by sitting back, waiting for the warships to leave.
USS Barry sailed through while the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) stood as the USS warship loitered and left.
