BEIJING, Oct 20 (Reuters) - China's military said on Tuesday it had sent forces to watch a US warship that "illegally" entered waters around a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.
China views almost all of the busy waterway as its own territory, despite overlapping claims by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, with recent tension most pronounced between Beijing and Manila.
The Chinese military's Southern Theatre Commmand said the Charleston "illegally intruded" into waters adjacent to Sabina Shoal in the Spratly Islands without Chinese government approval in the early hours of Tuesday.
"The US action infringes upon China's sovereign rights and interests, jeopardises maritime security, and is detrimental to regional peace and stability," it said in a statement.
"The US side should immediately cease such activities."
China's navy dispatched forces to track and monitor the ship, it added.
The US Navy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It generally refers to such missions as "freedom of navigation operations", though its last known one in the South China Sea was more than a year ago.
Last month, a China Coast Guard vessel rammed a Philippine boat on a refuelling mission near the same shoal.
China and the Philippines, which has a mutual defence treaty with the US, both contest sovereignty over Sabina Shoal and the entire Spratly Islands archipelago.
(Reporting by Liz Lee and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Clarence Fernandez)
