China’s military said on Tuesday it drove away a U.S. guided-missile cruiser that “illegally intruded” into waters near the South China Sea’s Spratly Islands, an assertion the U.S. Navy disputed.

“The actions of the U.S. military seriously violated China’s sovereignty and security,” said Tian Junli, spokesman for the Southern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army.

The ship in question, the USS Chancellorsville guided-missile cruiser, had recently sailed through the Taiwan Strait.

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In a statement, the U.S. Navy said the Chinese statement was “false”, calling it “the latest in a long string of PRC actions to misrepresent lawful U.S. maritime operations”.

Read more: Reuters