US warship sails near Chinese-controlled Paracel Islands | Al Jazeera

A US warship has sailed near the Chinese-controlled Paracel Islands in the disputed South China Sea in a freedom of navigation operation, the US Navy said, the first such mission under President Joe Biden’s new administration.

China’s military condemned the move, saying it had dispatched naval and air units to follow and warn away the ship.

The busy waterway is one of a number of flashpoints in the US-China relationship, which include a trade war, US sanctions, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea, an assertion that the International Tribunal at The Hague declared as without merit.

China has been infuriated by repeated US expeditions near the islands that Beijing occupies and controls in the South China Sea...