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Beijing claims it has warned a US destroyer in South China Sea after missile launch
- The USS Mustin sailed near the Paracel Islands in the disputed waterway after Chinese missile launch in the region
- Deployment intended to keep critical shipping lanes ‘free and open’, American Pacific Fleet says
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China says it has warned off a US guided-missile destroyer in the South China Sea which was deployed to the disputed waters after a Chinese missile launch in the latest of a series of escalating tensions in the region.
The Chinese military said the destroyer sailed into “China’s territorial waters” near the islands, called the Xisha by China, and the PLA Southern Theatre Command had dispatched naval and air forces and “expelled” the US Navy ship.
“China has indisputable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and their adjacent waters in the region, and the command troops are always on high alert to resolutely protect national sovereignty and safeguard peace and stability in the region of the South China Sea”, PLA spokesman Senior Colonel Li Huamin said early on Friday.
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According to a statement from the US Pacific Fleet, the USS Mustin (DDG-89) sailed into “the vicinity of the Paracel Islands” on Thursday “to contest excessive maritime claims and reinforce laws of the sea in international waters”. The deployment was also intended to “ensure critical shipping lanes in the area remain free and open”, it said.
The US deployment followed China’s launch of its Dongfeng missiles – including an “aircraft-carrier killer” – into the South China Sea on Wednesday morning, as reported exclusively by the South China Morning Post.
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