China dispatches navy to watch US warship that illegally entered waters near disputed shoal

China’s military said on Tuesday it had sent forces to watch a US warship that “illegally” entered waters around a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, while further north in the waterway, Taiwan reported a standoff with a Chinese vessel.China views almost all of the South China Sea as its own territory, despite overlapping claims by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, with recent tension most pronounced between Beijing and Manila.The Chinese military’s Southern Theatre Command said the USS Charleston “illegally intruded” into waters adjacent to Sabina Shoal in the Spratly Islands without Chinese government approval in the early hours of Tuesday.“The US action infringes upon China’s sovereign rights and interests, jeopardizes maritime security, and is detrimental to regional peace and stability,” it said in a statement.“The US side should immediately cease such activities.”China’s navy dispatched forces to track and monitor the ship, it added.The US Navy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.It generally refers to such missions as “freedom of navigation operations,” though its last known one in the South China Sea was more than a year ago.A Philippines’ military spokesperson said the US ship “did not trespass into ‘Chinese territory’,” adding that no nation had the authority to require prior permission for “lawful transit through international waters.”Last month, a China Coast Guard vessel rammed a Philippine boat on a refueling mission near the same shoal, according to the Philippine Coast Guard.

China blamed the collision on the Philippine side.China and the Philippines, which has a mutual defense treaty with the US, both contest sovereignty over Sabina Shoal and the entire Spratly Islands archipelago.In a separate incident on Tuesday at the top end of the South China Sea, Taiwan’s Coast Guard said a Chinese Coast Guard ship had entered restricted waters near the Taiwan-controlled Pra...