Chinese warship challenges US destroyer

BEIJING — The United States and China traded new accusations over naval operations in the South China Sea on Tuesday after warships from each country came perilously close to colliding in the disputed waters.

The Pentagon accused the Chinese navy of using “an unsafe and unprofessional maneuver” when one of its destroyers challenged a U.S. destroyer, the USS Decatur, as it sailed Sunday near one of the disputed islets that China claims in the Spratly archipelago.

The Chinese ship “conducted a series of increasingly aggressive maneuvers,” coming within 45 yards of the bow of the Decatur, a guided-missile cruiser that was on what the Pentagon described as a routine mission in international waters.

The Chinese navy’s actions forced the Decatur to maneuver to avoid a collision, a spokesman for the Pacific Fleet, Capt. Charlie Brown, said in a statement.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea, but it faces competing claims over the Spratlys from Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia. The encounter Sunday occurred within 12 nautical miles of Gaven Reef, a pair of outcroppings in the sea that China has expanded and fortified with weaponry since 2014.

The United States and other nations have intensified naval and aerial patrols in the sea to signal that the territories there remain in international waters. Britain, France and Japan have also conducted operations there in recent months.