An American warship sailed through waters off the contested Spratly Islands in the South China Sea on Thursday, in the latest challenge to Beijing’s sweeping territorial claims in the region.
The region is believed to have valuable oil and gas deposits.
Further angering those countries, and the US, Beijing has moved aggressively to build reefs into artificial islands capable of hosting military planes. The move came amid a rise in US-China tensions over the coronavirus epidemic, in which Washington has accused Beijing of hiding and downplaying the initial outbreak detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
Relations between both countries have been strained on multiple levels since President Donald Trump took office in 2017. A trade war launched by Trump has infuriated Beijing, as did his authorization of a $1.3 billion arms sale to Taiwan, which China considers a rebel province.
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