Photo/Illutration In this photo provided by the Philippine Coast Guard, a Chinese Coast Guard ship sails near a Philippine Coast Guard vessel during its patrol at Bajo de Masinloc, 124 nautical miles west of Zambales province, northwestern Philippines on March 2, 2022. (Philippine Coast Guard via AP)

BEIJING--The U.S. Navy on Tuesday dismissed Beijing’s protests over a “freedom of navigation operation” conducted near a Chinese-held island in the South China Sea, in the latest incident drawing new attention to one of the world’s potential military flashpoints.

The Navy said its guided missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville on Tuesday “asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the South China Sea near the Spratly Islands, consistent with international law.”

China called the action illegal and said it mobilized naval and air assets to issue warnings and drive off the ship, a characterization the Navy and Pentagon disputed.

“I know that there has been some reporting that China essentially ejected our ship from the area, that is not true,” said Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder.

China said the U.S. Navy’s sail “seriously violated” its sovereignty and security and called it “further ironclad evidence of its pursuit of navigational hegemony and militarization of the South China Sea,” the spokesperson for the Southern Theater Command, Air Force Col. Tian Junli, was quoted as saying.

“China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their adjacent waters,” Tian said.

The Navy’s 7th Fleet, which is responsible for U.S. naval operations in the region, issued a rebuttal, calling it “the latest in a long string of (Chinese) actions to misrepresent lawful U.S. maritime operations and assert its excessive and illegitimate maritime claims” in the South China Sea. China claims the area virtually in its entirety.

“As long as some countries continue to claim and assert limits on rights that exceed their authority under international law, the United States will continue to defend the rights and freedoms of the sea guaranteed to all,” it said.

The long-seething South China Sea territorial conflicts involving China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have long been regarded as a delicate fault line in the U.S.-China rivalry in the region.

While the U.S. lays no claims to the strategic waterway, where an estimated $5 trillion in global trade transits each year, it has said that freedom of navigation and overflight is in America’s national interest. The sea is also home to rich fishing stocks and a potential wealth of energy and mineral resources.

In March, U.S. Indo-Pacific commander Adm. John C. Aquilino told The Associated Press that China has fully militarized at least three of several islands it built in the disputed waters with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems, laser and jamming equipment. He described it as an increasingly aggressive move that threatens all nations operating nearby.

Then in July, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on China to comply with a 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated Beijing’s vast claims on historical grounds in the South China Sea.

On a visit to the area earlier this month, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to defend the Philippines under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty. She also announced additional aid of $7.5 million to Philippine maritime law enforcement agencies.

That came shortly after the Philippine navy alleged a Chinese coast guard vessel had forcibly seized Chinese rocket debris as Filipino sailors were towing it to their island.