Chinese Military Repels US Warship Near Disputed South China Sea Islands

Calling Washington a “security risk maker” and the “biggest destroyer” of peace and stability in the region, the spokesman for the PLA's Southern Theater Command, senior colonel Tian Junli stated that the breach of China’s territorial waters by the guided-missile destroyer USS Hopper “severely jeopardized” Beijing’s sovereignty.

He added that this once again proved that Washington is seeking “navigation hegemony” and “militarization” of the South China Sea.

The Chinese military deployed “air and naval forces to follow and monitor” the intruder, and “drove it away according to law,” CGTN reported.

The Pentagon has yet to comment on the incident.

The Xisha islands are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea, which is de-facto governed by China. Known internationally as the Paracel Islands, they are also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.

Washington does not recognize China’s sovereignty of the islands and has repeatedly called it “unlawful” and posing “a serious threat to the freedom of the seas.”

Similar incidents with American warships “caught trespassing” near the Paracel Islands have happened before. Destroyer USS Milius was “warned away” from the region by the Chinese Navy in March this year, while USS Benfold was chased away twice in 2022.