A US Navy destroyer sailed near islands claimed by China in the South China Sea on Friday (September 13), the US military said, a move likely to anger Beijing.

The busy waterway is one of a growing number of flashpoints in the US-Chinese relationship, which include an escalating trade war, American sanctions on China's military and US relations with Taiwan.

Commander Reann Mommsen, a spokeswoman for the US Navy's Seventh Fleet, told Reuters that the destroyer Wayne E. Meyer challenged territorial claims in the operation, including what she described as excessive Chinese claims around the Paracel Islands, which are also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam.

China and the United States have traded barbs in the past over what Washington has said is Beijing's militarization of the South China Sea by building military installations on artificial islands and reefs in disputed waters.

(Source: Reuters)