China, US Clash Over Naval Incident Near Scarborough Shoal

August 13th, 2025

By Josh Xiao

Aug 13, 2025 (Bloomberg) –The Chinese navy said it expelled a US Navy ship that entered its territorial waters in the South China Sea, while the US defended the operation as legal under international law.

China’s navy tracked and warned off the USS Higgins, a US Navy destroyer, after it “illegally intruded” into the waters surrounding Scarborough Shoal without permission, the People’s Liberation Army Southern Theater Command said in a statement Wednesday.

“The US military’s actions have seriously infringed upon China’s sovereignty and security and severely undermine peace and stability in the South China Sea,” it added.

The US Navy rejected the Chinese claim, describing the operation as a lawful assertion of navigational rights. The mission was meant to challenge restrictions on innocent passage imposed by China and Taiwan, the Navy said. The Higgins exited what the US called the excessive maritime claim area upon completing the operation and continued routine operations in the South China Sea.

“China’s statement about this mission is false,” US Seventh Fleet spokesperson Lieutenant Sarah Merrill said in an emailed response to a Bloomberg query. “Nothing China says otherwise will deter us.”

The South China Sea has long been a lightning rod for tensions between the US and China. China’s territorial claims to the waters overlap with those of neighboring nations including the Philippines, while the US regularly conducts freedom of navigation operations in the area — moves that often provoke Beijing.

On Monday, two Chinese vessels collided after one of them chased a Philippine Coast Guard ship near the Scarborough Shoal. Beijing blamed Manila for the incident without specifying the damage to its ship.

“The operations demonstrate that the United States will fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows — regardless of the location of excessive maritime claims and regardless of current events,” Merrill added.

Despite the maritime tension, broader relations between the world’s two largest economies have stabilized after both sides extended a trade truce for another 90 days into early November.