Tensions boiling up between US, China

BEIJING — China’s military vowed Monday to step up air and sea patrols after an American warship sailed near a disputed island in the South China Sea in what Beijing called a “serious political and military provocation.”

Meanwhile, in a telephone call, Chinese President Xi Jinping complained to U.S. President Donald Trump about “negative factors” undermining relations between the two countries.

The past few days have seen a downturn in relations between the two sides, after the U.S. announced its intention to sell arms to Taiwan and sanction a Chinese bank doing business with North Korea.

Then, on Sunday, the USS Stethem, a guided-missile destroyer, sailed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island, a small isle in the Paracel Islands chain claimed and controlled by China. China claims full sovereignty over the South China Sea and has built fully functional military facilities on some islands.

The incident came just hours before Trump spoke by telephone to Xi on Monday morning in Beijing.

Trump “raised the growing threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs,” the White House said. But Xi also took the opportunity of the call to request that the United States “handle the Taiwan issue appropriately,” according to a Chinese statement.

Neither statement mentioned the South China Sea.