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BEIJING: A US warship sailed near the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, the US Navy said, challenging Beijing’s claims about the resource-rich waterway and prompting a warning from the Chinese military.
Thursday’s operation came a day after China fired ballistic missiles into the sea as part of ongoing live-fire exercises, fueling already high tensions between Washington and Beijing.
The United States regularly conducts “freedom of navigation operations” in the area to challenge Chinese territorial claims.
The US Navy’s Pacific Fleet said in a statement that the USS Mustin, a guided-missile destroyer, sailed Thursday “in the vicinity of the Paracel Islands to ensure that critical shipping lanes in the area remain clear and open ”.
The Chinese military on Friday accused the US ship of entering “China’s territorial waters” near the islands “without authorization.”
Chinese forces tracked down the warship and then warned it to leave, military spokesman Li Huamin said.
In recent years, China has aggressively pursued its territorial claims in the South China Sea, building small sandbars and reefs on military bases with runways and port facilities.
Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Taiwan also have competing claims in the South China Sea, through which international trade worth trillions of dollars a year passes.
Tensions have risen this week in the area near the Paracel Islands, called Xisha after Beijing, where the Chinese military has been conducting exercises.
Beijing on Tuesday accused Washington of flying a U-2 spy plane into a no-fly zone to disrupt drills, which included launching ballistic missiles.
The Pentagon then accused China of destabilizing the region and using the military for “illegal maritime claims” in a statement criticizing the exercises and the use of ballistic missiles in drills.
The Chinese military said on Friday that the United States had “repeatedly caused trouble in the South China Sea,” and urged it to “immediately stop such provocative actions.”
