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South China Sea
ChinaMilitary

Chinese military ‘warns off’ US destroyer from South China Sea’s Scarborough Shoal

PLA Southern Theatre Command says USS Higgins was warned to leave the area where two Chinese ships reportedly collided this week

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A file picture of the guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins, which has entered the South China Sea, according to the PLA Southern Theatre Command. Photo: Getty Images
Yuanyue Dangin Beijing
A US destroyer has entered disputed waters in the South China Sea, less than two days after an incident involving a Chinese coastguard vessel and a PLA Navy ship while the former was pursuing a Philippine coastguard vessel in the area.
The People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theatre Command said on Wednesday that the USS Higgins, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, had “illegally entered China’s territorial waters around Huangyan Island [another name for Scarborough Shoal] without the approval of the Chinese government”.

The PLA Navy “has tracked, monitored, and warned the vessel to leave”, the Southern Theatre Command said in a statement.

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It also criticised the US military for “seriously violating China’s sovereignty and security, undermining peace and stability in the South China Sea, and violating international law and basic norms of international relations”.

The US destroyer entered the disputed waters near Scarborough Shoal, known as Bajo de Masinloc in the Philippines or Huangyan Island in China, where Monday’s collision is said to have happened.

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Clashes involving Chinese and Philippine coastguard vessels in this area have increased in recent years.

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