US denies Chinese claim it drove away American destroyer

By DAVID RISING
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — The U.S. is denying Chinese claims that its military had driven away an American guided-missile destroyer from operating around disputed islands in the South China Sea, in an incident that comes as tensions in the region between the two powers continue to rise. The U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet said that a statement Thursday from China’s Southern Theatre Command that it had forced the USS Milius away from waters around the Paracel Islands — called Xisha by China — was “false.” A fleet spokesman says: “USS Milius is conducting routine operations in the South China Sea and was not expelled.”