Threatening to destabilize the tentative improvement in Sino-US relations achieved in recent days following Trump's recent concession over the "One China" policy, was the US deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) to the disputed waters of the South China Sea on Saturday as part of maritime "routine operations", according to an announcement posted on the Vinson's Facebook page.
Beijing has warned Washington against any actions which would challenge China’s “sovereignty and security” The warning was in response to reports that the US was planning fresh naval patrols in the disputed South China Sea. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said that tensions in the waters have stabilized due to the hard work of Beijing and Southeast Asia countries.
Two weeks after China allegedly unveiled a new ICBM system "in response to Trump's provocative remarks", a report which however was subsequently denied by Chinese officials, China had no qualms about revealing another highly accurate ballistic missile in recent Rocket Force drills, which is capable of threatening not only Taiwan and the contested South China Sea islands, but also U.S. and Japanese bases in Asia.
The latest diplomatic spat between the US and China erupted overnight, when China said on Tuesday it had "irrefutable" sovereignty over disputed islands in the South China Sea after White House spokesman Sean Spicer vowed to defend "international territories" in the strategic waterway. Spicer's first official comments on Monday signaled a sharp departure from years of cautious U.S. handling of China's assertive pursuit of territorial claims in Asia.
Following Rex Tillerson’s “astonishing” and “unprofessional” comments made during his confirmation hearing, Chinese state media has predicted a “large scale war” in the South China Sea if US tries stopping China accessing its man-made islands. The former ExxonMobil CEO likened China’s island-building in the South China Sea to “Russia’s taking of Crimea” during his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday.