Tension as US warship sails by China's disputed islands

A US Navy ship has sailed close to artificial islands built by China in disputed waters, US defence officials have said.

In a move that is bound to inflame tensions between the two superpowers, the guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen breached the 12-nautical mile zone China claims around Subi and Mischief reefs in the Spratly archipelago.

The foreign ministry in Beijing has condemned the operation as "illegal" and a "threat to China's sovereignty," and has vowed to "resolutely respond to any country's deliberately provocative actions".

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After confirming that the ship had sailed within the disputed area, a US defence official said this was just the first in a series of freedom-of-navigation exercises aimed at testing Beijing's territorial claims.

"This is something that will be a regular occurrence, not a one-off event," said a US official. "It's not something that's unique to China."

Washington had earlier vowed to challenge the "12-nautical-mile territorial limits that China claims around artificial islands it has built", according to Reuters.

China claims it owns the waters in some of the world's busiest sea lanes, but this claim is challenged by other nations. The Subi and Mischief reefs in the South China Sea have both been turned into man-made islands by a massive Chinese dredging and construction operation.

Chinese authorities said last month they would "never allow any country to violate its territorial waters and airspace in the Spratlys".