China Tracks US Warship Near Sabina Shoal
China’s military said on Tuesday that the US littoral combat ship USS Charleston “illegally intruded” into waters adjacent to Sabina Shoal in the Spratly Islands in the early hours of October 20, without Chinese government approval, according to Reuters.
In a statement carried by Dot Dot News, the Southern Theater Command Navy, speaking for Beijing, said it dispatched forces to track and monitor the vessel. It called the passage an infringement of China’s sovereign rights and urged Washington to cease such activities.
Reuters reported that the US Navy did not immediately respond. It noted that Washington generally calls such missions freedom of navigation operations, though its last known one in the South China Sea was more than a year ago, and that a China Coast Guard vessel rammed a Philippine boat near the same shoal last month. Lianhe Zaobao noted that China and the Philippines both claim the area.
So far, the account rests largely on Beijing’s statement.