A U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer sailed through a disputed area of South China Sea on Monday, pushing back against territorial claims by China amid rising bilateral tensions, the Seventh Fleet said in a statement.
The destroyer USS Milius sailed near Mischief Reef, part of the Spratly Islands where China has built up several military bases and deployed missiles in recent years.
A Chinese military spokesman said the Milius “illegally trespassed” without Chinese government approval. Chinese military aircraft and warships tracked and monitored the Milius, said a spokesman for the PLA southern theater command. “The theater’s troops are ready to fight at all times and can fight at any time to resolutely smash any form of ‘Taiwan independence’ and foreign interference attempts,” the Chinese military statement said Monday.
During this period, 134 military aircraft crossed the median line down the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait. U.S. defense officials have said the planes crossing the media line were violating the fragile status quo between China and Taiwan that has kept the peace between the two rivals since Nationalist forces fled the mainland to Taiwan during a civil war in 1949.
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