China has accused the United States of violating its sovereignty after claiming to have expelled an American warship from disputed waters near the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said its Southern Theatre Command tracked, monitored and warned the USS Higgins before “expelling” it from waters close to Huangyan Dao, the Chinese name for the shoal. The operation was carried out after the destroyer entered the area “without authorisation” from Beijing, according to a military spokesperson.
The US Navy rejected the claim, calling China’s account “false”. The Seventh Fleet said the USS Higgins, accompanied by the USS Cincinnati, was conducting a freedom of navigation operation in accordance with international law to challenge “excessive maritime claims”.
It is the first publicly known US military operation near Scarborough Shoal in six years and comes days after two Chinese vessels collided while attempting to block a Philippine ship from the area. The shoal, known in the Philippines as Bajo de Masinloc, lies off the country’s north-west coast and is claimed by both Beijing and Manila.
Footage released by the Philippine coast guard showed a Chinese ship firing water cannon at one of its vessels before being struck by a larger Chinese ship during a sudden manoeuvre. China acknowledged the incident but accused the Philippines of “forcibly intruding” into its waters, without addressing the collision.
Philippine coast guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela described the Chinese manoeuvre as “risky” and said it caused substantial damage to the Chinese vessel’s forward deck, rendering it unseaworthy.
The latest confrontation has prompted concern from Washington and its allies. The United States, Japan, Australia and New Zealand issued a joint statement on Wednesday expressing alarm at the incident. It is the first such naval encounter between the US and China since 2022, when the USS Benfold was challenged near the Paracel Islands.
China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, overlapping with the territorial claims of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. Scarborough Shoal remains one of the region’s most persistent flashpoints.
