China's Defense Ministry traded blame with the U.S. on Wednesday over rising tensions in the South China Sea, a day after Washington sent a guided-missile destroyer near a Chinese-controlled man-made island.
In a statement posted on the ministry's website, Beijing voiced "resolute opposition" to Tuesday's sail-by, saying the U.S. operation "only further justified China's construction of defense facilities in the area" and would result in more maritime and air patrols by Beijing.
It said China has dispatched vessels and aircraft, including two fighter jets and three warships, to identify the U.S. vessel and had warned it to leave.
The patrol, the third such operation by Washington since October, saw the USS William P. Lawrence transit within 12 nautical miles (22 km) of Fiery Cross Reef, which is home to a military-grade airfield and is also declaimed by the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
The ministry said the U.S. had used the patrol "to disrupt the regional situation and reap gains from it, and further proved that China's construction of defense facilities on . . . islands and reefs in the Nansha Islands is totally justified and very necessary."
China refers to the Spratly archipelago, which includes Fiery Cross Reef, as the Nansha Islands.
The U.S. State Department had earlier said the operation was conducted "to uphold the rights and freedoms of all States under international law and to challenge excessive maritime claims of some claimants in the South China Sea," likely a reference to China's "nine-dash line" claim to roughly 80 percent of the waters.
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