South China Sea: Accusations traded after Beijing ‘warns away’ US destroyer from disputed waters

Tensions over the disputed South China Sea have been reignited after Beijing said its military had driven away a US warship that had entered its territorial waters without permission. Washington has insisted the naval destroyer USS Hopper was on a routine freedom of navigation patrol. According to a post on the official WeChat social media account of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the military deployed naval and air forces to “track, monitor and warn away” the American vessel. But in response, the US Navy said the ship had “asserted navigational rights in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands,…