Map Shows US ‘Special Mission' Ship in Waters Near China
The U.S. Seventh Fleet, which maintains America's naval presence in the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans, confirmed to Newsweek that USNS Victorious, an ocean surveillance ship, was operating in the South China Sea as part of what it called "routine operations."
Newsweek has also contacted the Chinese Defense Ministry for comment by email.
Territorial disputes in the energy-rich South China Sea remain unresolved, with overlapping sovereignty claims by several countries-including China and the Philippines-frequently leading to confrontations and clashes at sea between maritime forces of rival claimants.
Strategically, the South China Sea serves as a vital gateway for naval deployments between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Both the U.S. and China maintain a persistent naval presence in the region-including the deployment of aircraft carriers-as they jostle for dominance.
Using open-source ship-tracking data, a Newsweek map shows that the Victorious has been operating in the South China Sea since at least May 22, when it was spotted in the Luzon Strait-a waterway connecting the South China Sea and the Philippine Sea-heading south.
The map shows the ocean surveillance ship, equipped with a Surveillance Towed-Array Sensor System (SURTASS) for collecting undersea acoustic data in support of anti-submarine warfare, was last tracked underway in the central South China Sea on Tuesday.
A Chinese think tank, the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative, claimed that the Victorious operated "intensively" near the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal.
China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei have all laid claim to the Spratly Islands, while Scarborough Shoal-a fishing ground located within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone-has been under Chinese control since 2012 after a standoff.
The Victorious' mission remains unclear. The ship was spotted transiting southward through the Uraga Channel-located south of Tokyo, Japan-in early May. It is also one of the so-called "Special Mission" ships that support U.S. military and other government operations.
The presence of a U.S. ocean surveillance ship, tasked with detecting and tracking undersea threats, coincides with China's stationing of its nuclear-powered submarines at a base facing the South China Sea, which includes an underground facility designed to protect them.
The U.S. Seventh Fleet said in a statement to Newsweek: "Every day the U.S. [Seventh] Fleet operates to protect security, freedom, and prosperity for the U.S. and our allies and partners."
An unnamed spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on June 1: "On the South China Sea, there has never been any problem with regard to freedom of navigation and overflight there … It is the U.S. who is the primary factor that is hurting the peace and stability in the South China Sea."
China continues to enhance its presence in the South China Sea by deploying naval and Coast Guard vessels, asserting its sovereignty claims in the disputed waters.
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