China says a US Navy ship ‘illegally intruded’ into waters in the South China Sea

BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese military said that an American naval ship had “illegally intruded” on Monday into waters near the Second Thomas Shoal, the site of a hot territorial dispute between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea. A Chinese naval force was mobilized to track the USS Gabrielle Giffords during the operation, according to a statement from the People’s Liberation Army Southern Theater. China says the U.S. is meddling in waters far from its shores and renewed its accusation that America is raising regional tensions. The U.S. Navy said the ship “was conducting routine operations in international waters … consistent with international law.”