This is stated in a statement by the CGTN TV channel with reference to the Southern Combat Command of the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA).

The publication cites the words of a senior colonel from the southern zone of the southern combat command of the PLA, Tian Junli. He noted that the Army used the Navy and Air Force to "track, monitor and warn" the destroyer.

Junli called the infiltration of a U.S. vessel into Chinese waters ironclad proof of U.S. aspirations for "maritime hegemony" and the "militarization of the South China Sea."

Earlier, the head of the Ministry of Defense of the People's Republic of China said that foreign ships are approaching the territory of the country for provocations.