China says US warship ‘illegally intruded’ near disputed South China Sea shoal

China on Tuesday said that the US littoral combat ship USS Charleston “illegally intruded” into disputed waters near Sabina Shoal in the South China Sea, part of an archipelago which Beijing refers to as Nansha Qundao, without approval of the Chinese government. The PLA Southern Theatre Command Navy dispatched forces to watch the USS Charleston with “laws and regulations”.

"The US action infringes ​upon China's sovereign rights and interests, jeopardises maritime security, and is detrimental to regional peace and stability," it said ​in a statement.

"The US side should immediately cease such activities."

China claims sovereignty over approximately 90% of the South China Sea using a U-shaped boundary on its official maps historically known as the "nine-dash line", which overlaps with the internationally recognised 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zones of five neighbouring Southeast Asian nations: the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia as well as Taiwan.

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This comes amid a standoff between China and the Philippines, an ally of Washington. Last month, a ​China Coast Guard vessel rammed a Philippine boat on a refuelling mission near the same shoal, according to the Philippine Coast Guard. China blamed the collision on the Philippine side.

In a separate incident on Tuesday, a Chinese Coast Guard ship had entered restricted waters near the Taiwan-controlled ​Pratas Islands, said Taiwan's Coast Guard.

The Chinese ship broadcast that "the so-called Republic of ​China does not exist", the official name of Taiwan and the Taiwanese ship broadcast ​back that “the ⁠Republic of China, Taiwan, is a sovereign and independent country”, adding that the standoff was continuing.