The US Navy has accused a Chinese ship of making "dangerous" moves around a US destroyer in the Taiwan Strait, less than 10 days after an air accident between the two countries in the region.
The US command said in a statement that the Chinese ship "carried out dangerous maneuvers" near the "Chonghoon" US destroyer that was sailing in the strait on Saturday.
The statement added that the Chinese ship overtook the "Chong-hon" from the left side, and then intercepted its path 150 meters away, explaining that the destroyer continued its course and slowed down to a speed of 10 knots to avoid a collision.
The statement added that the Chinese ship again passed in front of the bow of the "Chung Hoon" from the right side to the left side at a distance of 2000,150 meters, and continued to sail alongside the US destroyer, which approached it to a distance of less than <> meters.
The incident occurred when the USS Chung Hoon (an Aegis-type destroyer of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, sailing alongside the Canadian ship HMCS Montreal) was in the 180-kilometer-wide Taiwan Strait separating the autonomous island from China.
China's military said it had monitored the passage of the ships, but did not report any incidents. Col. Xi Yi, spokesman for China's Eastern Command, said: "The countries concerned are deliberately creating problems in the Taiwan Strait, deliberately fuelling dangers and maliciously undermining regional peace and stability."
U.S. ships regularly cross the Taiwan Strait and are rarely escorted by Allied vessels. The last passage of both U.S. and Canadian ships dates back to September.
The moves anger China, which considers Taiwan an integral part of its territory and maintains it has sovereign rights in the strait.
The incident is the second between the United States and China in the region in less than 10 days.
On May 26, US military officials said that a Chinese pilot had conducted an "unprovoked aggressive maneuver" near a US reconnaissance aircraft flying over the South China Sea.
A Chinese military spokesman said at the time that the U.S. plane had "deliberately stormed" a training area in China "to conduct reconnaissance operations."