China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy has accused a US naval vessel, the USS Charleston, of illegally entering waters near the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. According to a statement from the PLA’s Southern Theatre Command Navy, the USS Charleston entered the area around the Sabina Shoal without permission early Tuesday morning. Beijing asserts “indisputable sovereignty” over the Spratly Islands and views the US patrol as a destabilizing action. The PLA Navy subsequently monitored and followed the US vessel. This incident marks the latest in a series of confrontations between Chinese and US forces in the contested South China Sea. The move is expected to further strain relations between the two nations as they continue to disagree over territorial claims and freedom of navigation in the region.