South China Sea: Accusations traded after Beijing ‘warns away’ US destroyer from disputed waters
Tensions over the disputed South China Sea have been reignited after Beijing said its military had driven away a US warship that had entered its territorial waters without permission.
Washington has insisted the naval destroyer USS Hopper was on a routine freedom of navigation patrol.
According to a post on the official WeChat social media account of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the military deployed naval and air forces to “track, monitor and warn away” the American vessel.
But in response, the US Navy said the ship had “asserted navigational rights in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands, consistent with international law”.
Beijing lays claim to nearly the entire South China Sea, which provides a route to more than £2.4trn of seaborne trade a year, including parts over which the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei assert rights.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 said China’s wide-reaching claim had no legal basis.
The Philippines and Australia began their first joint sea and air patrols in the sea on Saturday, days after Beijing accused Manila of enlisting foreign forces to patrol the South China Sea – a reference to joint operations with the US military.
Two Chinese fighter jets were monitored “orbiting” a Philippine aircraft participating in the patrols but did not cause a problem, Manila said.
Philippine military chief Romeo Brawner said the nation was well within its rights to conduct joint patrols with allies to promote the “rule-based international order”.
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Australian deputy prime minister Richard Marles said: “Australia and the Philippines are firmly committed to a peaceful, secure and prosperous region, where sovereignty and agreed rules and norms are respected.
“The first joint patrol between the Australian defence force and the armed forces of the Philippines demonstrates this
commitment.”
The Philippines has held joint operations with the US military. Pic: AP
China said the incident involving the USS Hopper “proves that the United States is an out-and-out ‘security risk creator’ in the South China Sea”.
Lieutenant Kristina Weidemann of the US Navy said in a statement: “The United States challenges excessive maritime claims around the world regardless of the identity of the claimant.
“Unlawful and sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea pose a serious threat to the freedom of the seas.”
Earlier this month, the US and China held “candid” talks on maritime issues, including the contested South China Sea, where Washington underlined its concerns about what it called “dangerous and unlawful” Chinese actions.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
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