BEIJING warned the United States today that military threats would not succeed, as the Chinese People’s Liberation Army drove away a US battleship after it had entered Chinese-claimed waters.

The destroyer USS Benfold was accused of illegally trespassing into waters close to the Xisha (Paracel) Islands.

Beijing said the move “seriously violated China’s sovereignty and security, damaged peace and stability in the South China Sea, and violated international law and international relations.”

Army spokesman Senior Colonel Tian Junli said the US was engaging in deliberate provocations under the guise of “freedom of navigation” and posed a risk to security in the South China Sea.

“We urge the US to immediately stop this kind of provocation and strictly manage its maritime and aerial military activities, or it will be the US that will bear any consequences,” he said.

The encroachment came on the fifth anniversary of the so-called South China Sea Arbitration ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, a case brought by the Philippines contesting China’s claim to the waters within its “nine-dash line.”

China did not participate in the hearing, which found in Manilla’s favour, and contests the judgement, which it considers to be flawed. 

Beijing has mobilised a number of warships and fighter jets to the region as the US continues to escalate hostilities.

On Sunday hawkish US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement: “Nowhere is the rules-based order under greater threat than in the South China Sea.”

He claimed that China “continues to coerce and intimidate south-east Asian coastal states, threatening freedom of navigation in this critical global throughway.”

But China said it would not back down from the US military threat and urged Washington to step back from its provocative acts.

The US has identified China as the biggest threat to its global hegemony and used the recent Nato and G7 summits to shore up support for its bid at containment.

Along with punitive sanctions on Chinese companies and individuals, Washington has engaged in a propaganda offensive and has been accused of fabricating allegations of human rights abuses.

Attempts to blame China for the outbreak of the global Covid-19 pandemic — the so-called “lab leak theory” — resurfaced recently but have since been debunked by scientists.