Chinese warship drives away US ship in ‘unsafe and unprofessional maneuver’

HONG KONG — China said it drove away a US Navy warship that sailed close to a Chinese-occupied feature in the South China Sea, in the latest show of tensions between the countries amid their trade war.

“The US Navy’s Decatur missile destroyer arbitrarily entered the waters adjacent to an island reef in the South China Sea,” the Defense ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. “The US ship was identified and verified according to the law, and warned it and drove it away.”

The vessel, the USS Decatur, was sailing on Sunday morning “in the vicinity” of Gaven Reef in the South China Sea when a Chinese destroyer approached it in “an unsafe and unprofessional maneuver,” said Lieutenant Commander Tim Gorman, a spokesman for the US Pacific Fleet. The Chinese warship conducted a series of increasingly aggressive maneuvers accompanied by warnings for the Decatur to leave the area, Mr. Gorman said in an e-mail. The destroyer “approached within 45 yards of Decatur’s bow, after which Decatur maneuvered to prevent a collision,” he said.

Beijing last month also refused a US warship entry to Hong Kong and its top naval officer canceled a high-level meeting with his US counterpart.

Gaven Reef is one of seven Chinese-claimed outposts in the Spratlys chain. China has reclaimed 3,200 acres of land in the features and built ports, runways and military facilities. Beijing claims more than 80% of the South China Sea, based on a 1947 map showing the vague nine-dash line. An international arbitration panel in the Hague ruled in 2016 that China’s claims have no legal standing. —