BEIJING—China’s military said on Tuesday it drove away a U.S. guided-missile cruiser that “illegally intruded” into waters near the South China Sea’s Spratly Islands, an assertion the U.S. Navy disputed.
The ship in question, the USS Chancellorsville guided-missile cruiser, had recently sailed through the Taiwan Strait.
In a statement, the U.S. Navy said the Chinese statement was “false,” calling it “the latest in a long string of PRC actions to misrepresent lawful U.S. maritime operations.”
“USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) conducted this FONOP in accordance with international law and then continued on to conduct normal operations in waters where high seas freedoms apply,” the statement said, referring to a “freedom of navigation operation” by its military acronym. “The United States is defending every nation’s right to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows.”…