China issued on Thursday, May 20, its second protest in as many days over United States naval activity in the region, drawing an unusually sharp response from the US Navy's 7th Fleet, which accused Beijing of attempting to assert illegitimate maritime rights at the expense of its neighbors. A statement from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater Command said the guided missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur “illegally” intruded into its territorial waters surrounding the Paracel island group in the South China Sea on Thursday. It said Chinese forces mobilized to track and monitor the ship and “warned and expelled it.” The Paracels are also claimed by Vietnam.

China, US argue over naval activity in South China Sea. (2021, May 21). SunStar Bacolod, pp. 3, 9.