CHINA-US: PLA SOUTHERN THEATRE COMMAND CLAIMS IT "EXPELLED" USS BARRY FROM SOUTH CHINA SEA
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A spokesperson of the PLA Southern Theatre Command Senior Colonel Li Huamin on April 28, said 'The PLA Southern Theatre Command organised naval and aerial forces to follow the US guided missile destroyer USS Barry when it trespassed into China's territorial waters off the Xisha Islands on April 28'. He said, 'they followed and monitored its course, identified the ship, warned and expelled it'. Chinese analysts were quoted as saying the US Navy's recent operations near China show its own fear of losing presence and influence in the Asia-Pacific region amid multiple COVID-19 outbreaks on its warships. This is the first time the PLA Southern Theatre Command has actively announced an illegal trespass of a US warship into waters off the Xisha Islands, and also the first time that an announcement was made on the same day since similar arrangements began in November 2018, sources said.
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