BEIJING — The Chinese government on Saturday accused the U.S. oftrespassing in its territorial waters when a U.S. guided missile destroyersailed near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China would take “necessarymeasures” to protect its sovereignty after the USS Hopper sailed within 12nautical miles of Scarborough Shoal on Wednesday evening without China’spermission.
Scarborough is a tiny, uninhabited reef that China seized from thePhilippines in 2012. Known in Chinese as Huangyan Island, it lies about 200kilometers (120 miles) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon, andabout 600 kilometers (370 miles) southeast of China.
Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said a Chinese missile frigate moved toidentify and verify the U.S. vessel and warned it to leave the area.
“We hope that the U.S. respects China’s sovereignty, respects the effortsby regional countries and do not make trouble out of nothing,” Wu said in astatement on the ministry’s website.
The South China Sea has crucial shipping lanes, rich fishing grounds andpotential oil, gas and other mineral deposits.
China claims virtually the entire South China Sea and has carried outextensive land reclamation work on many of the islands and reefs it claims,equipping some with air strips and military installations.
The United States does not claim territory in the South China Sea but hasdeclared it has a national interest in ensuring that the territorialdisputes there are resolved peacefully in accordance with international law.
The Navy regularly sails through the area to assert freedom of navigation.- Agencies