BEIJING, Mar. 11 -- A US guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell trespassed into Chinese territorial waters off the Xisha Islands without permission on Tuesday. In response, the Southern Theater Command (STC) of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) organized naval and air forces to track, verify, identify, and warn the ship away, Senior Colonel Li Huamin, spokesperson for the PLA STC, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Snr. Col. Li pointed out that the US has kept flexing muscles and stirring up troubles in the South China Sea under the pretext of freedom of navigation. He denounced the US provocative acts as supremacy violating international law and called the US a “source of chaos” that threatens the peace and stability in the South China Sea.

"China owns indisputable sovereignty over the Xisha Islands and their adjacent waters,” Snr. Col. Li said, reaffirming that the Chinese military will stay on high alert and take all necessary measures to protect national sovereignty and security and safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea.