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China's ‌military said on Tuesday it had sent forces to watch a U.S. warship that "illegally" entered waters around a disputed shoal in the South China Sea. China views almost all of the ‌busy waterway as its own territory, despite ​overlapping claims by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam, with recent tension most pronounced ⁠between Beijing and Manila. The Chinese military's Southern Theatre ​Commmand said the Charleston "illegally intruded" into waters adjacent to ⁠Sabina Shoal in the Spratly Islands without Chinese government approval in the early hours of Tuesday. "The US action infringes upon China's ‌sovereign rights and interests,...

An escalating series of clashes in the South China Sea between the Philippines and China could draw the U.S., which has a mutual defense treaty with the Philippines, into the conflict. A 60 Minutes crew got a close look at the tense situation when traveling on a Philippine Coast Guard ship that was rammed by the Chinese Coast Guard... After the Chinese Coast Guard ship — 269 feet long and nearly twice the size of the Cape Engaño — pulled away, the Filipino crew found a three-and-a-half foot hole in the hull.... The ship Vega and her team was on...