China’s military has said it warned away a U.S. Navy warship after it sailed near disputed islands in the South China Sea on Wednesday, in the latest instance of tension between the two nations’ armed forces.
The U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet also confirmed the sailing, saying the USS Benfold guided-missile destroyer had conducted a “freedom of navigation operation” near the Paracel Islands, which are claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater Command said in a statement that it had sent air and naval forces “to track and warn away” the Benfold, which it claimed had “illegally trespassed into Chinese territorial waters.”