China said Wednesday it warned and "drove away" a U.S. destroyer that had sailed near the coast of the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea — one of the most valuable shipping lanes globally.

The destroyer, USS Higgins, "illegally entered China's territorial waters off Huangyan Island without the approval of the Chinese government," the country's defense ministry said, according to a CNBC translation of the statement in Mandarin.

Huangyan Island is the name China uses to refer to the shoal, which has been the subject of a maritime dispute between China and the Philippines.

China accused the U.S. military of "seriously" infringing its sovereignty, adding that America's actions "severely undermine peace and stability in the South China Sea, and violate international law and

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