Iran Press/Asia: A US Navy destroyer sailed near islands claimed by China in the South China Sea on Wednesday, the US military said, a move likely to anger Beijing at a time of rising tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
The busy waterway is one of a growing number of flash points in the US -Chinese relationship, which includes an escalating trade war, American sanctions on China’s military and US relations with Taiwan, Reuters reported.
The US Navy vessel Wayne E. Meyer, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, carried out the operation, travelling within 12 nautical miles (14 miles/22 km) of Fiery Cross and Mischief Reefs, Commander Reann Mommsen, a spokeswoman for the Japan-based US Navy’s Seventh Fleet, said.
Chinese military spokesman Li Huamin said in a statement early on Thursday the US vessel had encroached upon Chinese territorial waters near the Spratly Islands without the government’s permission and had been warned to leave.
The US military operation comes amid an increasingly bitter trade war between China and the United States that sharply escalated on Friday, with both sides levelling more tariffs on each other’s exports.
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