A United States Navy warship entered disputed waters in the South China Sea, reaching within 12 nautical miles of the Spratly Islands, where China has built and expanded artificial reefs it claims as its own territory, news reports said.

The ship is a guided missile destroyer called the Lassen, according to the New York Times late Monday. "One of the reasons you have a navy is to be able to exert influence and defend freedom of navigation on international waters," a US State Department spokesman, John Kirby told a news conference, the newspaper reported.

The US did not notify China beforehand of the move, Kirby said, noting that "you don't need to consult with any nation when you are exercising the right of freedom of navigation in international waters." China claims nearly the entire South China Sea, a key shipping lane with overlapping claims to its potentially rich mineral resources by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday said China was trying to verify the reports on the US ship. "We ask the US to think carefully before taking any rash action and making trouble out of nothing," he added.

Source: QNA