Article Posted on : - Feb 01, 2016

US Navy's guided missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur. The warship had sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Zhongjian Dao (Triton Island), part of the Xisha Islands (Paracel Islands) -- an archipelago claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam.

BEIJING (PTI): China on Sunday hit out at US' "irresponsible" move to send a warship near a disputed island in the strategic South China Sea to challenge its sovereignty, warning that America's deliberate provocations would have "extremely dangerous consequences" to regional stability.

The Chinese armed forces will take whatever measures necessary to safeguard China's sovereignty and security, no matter what provocations the US side may take, China's Defence Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said.

Yang's statement came hours after the USS Curtis Wilbur, a guided missile destroyer, sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Zhongjian Dao (Triton Island), part of the Xisha Islands (Paracel Islands) -- an archipelago claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam.

"This operation was about challenging excessive maritime claims that restrict the rights and freedoms of the United States and others, not about territorial claims to land features," a US Defence Department spokesman Commander Bill Urban said in Washington on Saturday.

But Yang described the US move as "very unprofessional and irresponsible" for the safety of the troops of both sides, and may cause "extremely dangerous consequences".

He said the US act severely violated Chinese law, sabotaged the peace, security and good order of the waters, and undermined the region's peace and stability. The Chinese Defence Ministry is firmly against this, he said.

The South China Sea is rich in natural resources. It is also a major shipping lane. Over half of the world's commercial shipping passes through the Indo-Pacific waterways.

China claims almost the whole of the South China Sea, resulting in overlapping claims with several other Asian nations like Vietnam and the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

They accuse China of illegally reclaiming land in contested areas to create artificial islands with facilities that could potentially be for military use.

In October, USS Lassen, a guided missile destroyer, sailed within 12 nautical miles of an artificial island China is building in the Spratly Islands.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Foreign Ministry also came out with a separate statement, calling on the US to respect and abide by China's laws, and not to undermine the mutual trust and regional peace and stability.

"The US warship violated Chinese law and entered China's territorial sea without authorisation. The Chinese side conducted surveillance and vocal warnings to the US warship," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.

Defence Ministry spokesman Yang claimed that China's law on the territorial sea and contiguous zone accords with the international law and practice.

"The US side is fully aware of this, yet it still sent its warship into China's territorial sea without authorisation. It is a deliberate provocation," Yang said, adding that Chinese military "warned and expelled" the US warship from the South China Sea area "swiftly".