BEIJING, Sept. 8 -- The US guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold trespassed into waters off the Meiji Reef, China's Nansha Islands in the South China Sea on September 8 without Chinese government's permission. The naval and air forces of the Southern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted whole-process tracking and monitoring and warned off the US destroyer, a military spokesperson said in a written statement Thursday.
Air Force Senior Colonel Tian Junli, spokesperson for the Chinese PLA Southern Theater Command, pointed out in the statement that the move of the US seriously violated China's sovereignty and security, it is another ironclad proof of its navigation hegemony and militarization of the South China Sea. Facts have repeatedly proved that the US is an out-and-out “security risk maker in the South China Sea” and the “biggest destroyer” of peace and stability in this region.
China has indisputable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and their adjacent waters. Troops of the PLA Southern Theater Command maintain a high level of vigilance at all times and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and security, as well as peace and stability in the South China Sea, said Tian.