Beijing sends an aircraft carrier group to the disputed South China Sea.

China’s Shandong aircraft carrier task group recently conducted an exercise in the South China Sea, the country’s People’s Liberation Army said Sunday.
China has repeatedly complained about U.S. Navy ships getting close to islands it occupies in the South China Sea, where Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, and Taiwan all also have competing claims.
U.S. carrier groups have sailed near Chinese-controlled islands in the disputed waters several times this year, drawing denunciation from China.
The exercise was described as routine training and part of the Chinese Navy’s annual work plan.
“It is completely legitimate and beneficial in improving the country’s ability to uphold national sovereignty and security,” Gao Xiucheng, a spokesman from the PLA navy said in a statement.
Gao said China hopes the world will see the exercise from an objective and rational viewpoint. He said the Chinese Navy will continue conducting such exercises according to its schedule.
On Thursday, China’s military revealed that the group has been pestered by a US Navy destroyer, USS Mustin, for some three weeks. The ship conducted “persistent close-range reconnaissance” and “severely disrupted” their exercises, it said, describing its conduct as “very vile in nature.” According to Beijing, the activities of the USS Mustin had threatened the “vessels and crew” of the strike group, and a formal diplomatic complaint has been launched.