China, US Clash Over Naval Incident Near Scarborough Shoal

The Chinese navy said it expelled a US Navy ship that entered its territorial waters in the South China Sea, while the US defended the operation as legal under international law.

China’s navy tracked and warned off the USS Higgins, a US Navy destroyer, after it “illegally intruded” into the waters surrounding Scarborough Shoal without permission, the People’s Liberation Army Southern Theater Command said in a statement Wednesday.