In response to USS William P. Lawrence, China said the American destroyer had sailed through Chinese waters illegally. The ship was tracked and warned, said a spokesman at the Foreign Ministry, Lu Kang.
“This action by the U.S. side threatened China’s sovereignty and security interests, endangered the staff and facilities on the reef, and damaged regional peace and stability,” Mr. Lu said at a regular news briefing.
Later, the Chinese Ministry of Defense said that three Chinese aircraft and three warships had “expelled” the American vessel from China’s waters. China dispatched two J-11 fighter jets, a Y-8 warning aircraft and three warships, a guided missile destroyer, a guided missile frigate and a frigate, to the area,
“It once again demonstrates that China’s installation of defensive facilities on the Nansha Islands is totally reasonable and very necessary indeed,” the ministry spokesman, Yang Yujun, said in a statement.
Nansha Islands is the name Beijing uses for the Spratlys.