BEIJING: China’s military said it had warned a US warship to “leave” the disputed South China Sea waters on Thursday, a claim the US military has swiftly dismissed as “false”.
China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea – a strategic waterway that carries trillions of dollars in annual trade – despite an international court ruling that the claim has no legal basis.
The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all have overlapping claims to the sea, while the United States sends ships through it to ensure freedom of navigation in international waters.
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command said the guided-missile destroyer USS Milius entered waters around the Parcel Islands, which are also claimed by Vietnam, on Thursday.
Spokesman Tian Junli said the PLA “organized naval and air forces to track and monitor [the ship] in accordance with the law” and “warned it to leave”.
He said the ship had “illegally invaded China’s territorial waters without the permission of the Chinese government, harming peace and stability in the region”.
The US military quickly denied the claims, using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China, telling JEE News that “the PRC statement is false”.
A spokesman for the US Indo-Pacific Command said the ship was “conducting routine operations in the South China Sea and was not evacuated”.
“The United States will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows,” the spokesman said.
In asserting its claims in the South China Sea, Chinese authorities have built artificial islands in recent years, including some military facilities and runways.
Regional countries have also accused Chinese vessels of harassing their fishing boats.
