PLA navy followed US vessel on patrol in South China Sea hotspot, Beijing says

China on Tuesday accused a US naval vessel of undermining regional stability by entering waters near the South China Sea’s disputed Spratly Islands.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the USS Charleston “illegally intruded” into the waters around the Sabina Shoal “without approval”, said the People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theatre Command Navy spokesman Yin Gang.
The Chinese navy monitored and followed the Charleston, Yin said.
China holds “indisputable sovereignty” over the Spratly Islands and the US action was “detrimental to regional peace and stability”, he added, demanding Washington immediately cease such activities.
Vincent Trinidad, a spokesman for the Philippines’ military, denied that the Charleston trespassed into Chinese territory and said “no single nation has the authority to require prior permission for lawful transit through international waters”, reported the Bilyonaryo News Channel.
The encounter followed a collision last month between China and the Philippines near the Sabina Shoal, known as Xianbin Jiao in China and Escoda Shoal in the Philippines.
The Charleston’s alleged incursion came ahead of a planned visit by US President Donald Trump to Manila for an Asean meeting next month.
The Charleston is an Independence-class littoral combat ship currently deployed to Southeast Asia under Destroyer Squadron 7, a Singapore-based command under the 7th Fleet.

The 7th Fleet did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Sabina Shoal, about 145km (90 miles) northwest of the Philippine island of Palawan, has been a major flashpoint between Beijing and Manila since 2024, when the Philippines stationed a coastguard vessel there for five months amid concerns over possible Chinese land reclamation.
The vessel withdrew in September 2024 following a series of confrontations, including collisions between Chinese and Philippine coastguard ships.
While the Tuesday encounter appeared to be the first time this year that China has publicly accused a US warship of entering disputed waters in the South China Sea without permission, similar incidents have occurred before. In 2020, Beijing said it warned the USS Montgomery to leave what it said were Chinese waters around the Spratly Islands.
Tensions in the South China Sea have escalated in recent years as China and the Philippines have repeatedly clashed over disputed reefs and shoals, with encounters involving coastguard and naval vessels, collisions and the use of water cannons.
Washington, a treaty ally of the Philippines, has stepped up joint naval patrols and military exercises with Manila while challenging what it considers to be Beijing’s excessive territorial claims.
A joint statement released after the 12th US-Philippines Bilateral Strategic Dialogue in February reiterated that the 1951 United States-Philippines Mutual Defence Treaty extended to armed attacks against either country’s armed forces, aircraft and public vessels – including those of their coastguards – anywhere in the Pacific, including the South China Sea.