Dispatch of US warship to South China Sea serious provocation: Beijing

Beijing blasts the passage of an American destroyer close to the islands it controls in the disputed South China Sea as “serious provocation,” saying such military activities pose a challenge to China’s “sovereignty and security.”

China’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that an American guided-missile destroyer — the USS Mustin — entered the contentious waters on Friday and was “warned off” by two Chinese ships.

The ministry did not give a location for the operation, but according to media reports, the American warship had sailed within 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers) of Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands, known as Nansha in China, and carried out maneuvering operations there.

It also slammed the US for “serious political and military provocation” through the contested waters. It asserted that Beijing “holds indisputable sovereignty over the islands and their surrounding waters in the South China Sea.”

“By repeatedly sending military ships into these areas without authorization, the US has seriously harmed Chinese sovereignty and security, violated basic rules of international relations, and endangered regional peace and stability,” it added.

Beijing also accused Washington of damaging “the atmosphere of military-to-military relations between the two countries, and cause close encounters by air and naval forces of the two countries, which could easily trigger miscalculation or even accidents at sea or in air.”

It has repeatedly warned the United States against sending warships to patrol the South China Sea, which has been at the center of a longtime territorial row between China and its neighbors.

SS