China's military says it drove U.S. Navy destroyer the USS Higgins from waters near Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on Wednesday morning.

Two days ago, a collision occurred between Chinese ships seeking to disrupt a Philippine Goast Guard mission at the disputed feature.

Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Seventh Fleet and the Chinese Foreign Ministry via emailed requests for comment.

Why It Matters

China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, home to overlapping claims by the Philippines and several other states.

Scarborough Shoal, one of the most hotly contested features in China's territorial dispute with the Philippines, sits within the U.S. treaty ally's exclusive economic zone. While China effectively seized control of waters around the atoll in 2012, the

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