China has scrambled naval ships and military jets to “warn off” a US missile destroyer sailing close to an artificial island built by it in the disputed South China Sea and denounced Washington’s move as a “serious political and military provocation”.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said in a statement late last night that China had dispatched military vessels and fighter planes in response to warn off the US vessel.

On Sunday, the missile destroyer USS Stethem “trespassed China’s territorial waters off the Xisha Islands”, state run Xinhua news agency reported.

The US behaviour constitutes a serious political and military provocation, Mr. Lu said, stressing that the Chinese side is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed it.

Stethem passed less than 22 km from tiny Triton Island in the Paracel Islands archipelago, which China calls Xisha islands. The island chain is also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam.

While China claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea, the other countries to partially counterclaim over the area are Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

This is the second US naval ship to have passed the disputed islands after President Donald Trump came to power.

The US has been periodically sending the naval ships and planes to the South China Sea to assert freedom of navigation challenging China’s claims of sovereignty.

China comes out with similar reaction every time the US naval ships pass through the area.

Mr. Lu said the Islands are an inherent part of the Chinese territory, noting that in accordance with the Law of China on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, the Chinese government promulgated the baseline of the territorial sea off the Xisha Islands in 1996

“The relevant Chinese law has explicit provisions on foreign military vessels’ entry into the territorial sea of China,” Mr. Lu said.

Under the pretext of “navigation freedom,” the US once again sent a military vessel into China’s territorial waters off the Xisha Islands without China’s approval, Mr. Lu said.

He said the behaviour of US has violated the Chinese law and relevant international law, infringed upon China’s sovereignty, disrupted peace, security and order of the relevant waters and put in jeopardy the facilities and personnel on the Chinese islands.

China says there are problems for international navigation through the SCS but objects to defence vessels going through it.

Working together, China and ASEAN member states have cooled down and improved the situation in the South China Sea Lu said charging US of deliberately stirring up troubles in the South China Sea. The US is running in the opposite direction from countries in the region who aspire for stability, cooperation and development, he said

“The Chinese side strongly urges the US side to immediately stop such kind of provocative operations that violate China’s sovereignty and threaten its security,” he stressed, saying the Chinese side will continue to take all necessary means to defend national sovereignty and security.

The US missile destroyer sailing close to the contentious island chain is the latest in a series of events that add to the growing unease in the relations between the two countries.

Last week Mr. Trump authorised a new arms sale to Taiwan, which China considers a rebel province, besides slapping sanctions on a Chinese bank accused of laundering North Korean cash.

Arab nations extended a deadline early on Monday for Qatar to respond to their list of demands in a diplomatic crisis roiling the Gulf, saying Kuwait’s emir requested the delay as part of his efforts to mediate the dispute.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain cut off ties with 2022 FIFA World Cup host Qatar on June 5, restricting access to their airspace and ports and sealing Qatar’s only land border, which it shares with Saudi Arabia.

They issued a 13-point list of demands to end the standoff June 22 and gave the natural gas-rich country 10 days to comply.

The joint statement by the Arab nations said they expected Qatar to respond to their demands on Monday. The new deadline would expire late Tuesday or early Wednesday.

“The response of the four states will then be sent following the study of the Qatari government’s response and assessment of its response to the whole demands,” the statement said.

The four nations cut ties to Qatar over allegations it supports extremists and over worries it maintains too-close ties to Shia power Iran. Qatar for long has denied sponsoring militants and maintains ties to Iran as it shares a massive offshore natural gas field with the country.

“Qatar is not an easy country to be swallowed by anyone. We are ready. We stand ready to defend our country. I hope that we don’t come to a stage where, you know, a military intervention is made,” Qatari Defence Minister Khalid bin Mohammed al-Attiyah told Sky News.

Qatar’s main QE stock index lost more than 3% when it reopened on July 2, following a weeklong hiatus for the Eid al-Fitr holiday break its first session since the demands were laid out. It eventually recovered some of its losses later in the trading session to close down 2.3% at 8,822.15.

Qatari supermarkets saw panic buying when the four countries initially cut ties. But the capital, Doha, was largely calm on Sunday as residents waited to see how the crisis would play out.

Abdelaziz al-Yafaei, a Qatari out for an evening walk along the city’s bayside, said he was reassured that things would be fine, regardless of what happens over the course of the next days.

“We have a government, thank God, that is wise and knows how to provide for all of our needs, how to maintain security,” he said. “We have enough funds in the country, on the economic side. All of the affairs are headed for the better.”

Qatar’s foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, showed no signs of backing down in during a press briefing in Rome on Saturday, saying they were never meant to be accepted and that his country “is prepared to face whatever consequences.”

While in Rome, Mr. Al Thani met with Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano, who gave his backing to ongoing mediation efforts led by Kuwait. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has also tried to resolve the dispute, with the U.S. last week urging Saudi Arabia and its allies to stay “open to negotiation” with Qatar.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has separately spoken with the leaders of Qatar and Bahrain, urging direct dialogue among all the states involved, according to statements released by the Kremlin on Saturday.

China’s ambitious space programme suffered a rare setback on Sunday as its new heavy-lift carrier rocket, the Long March-5 Y2 failed to put the country’s largest satellite into orbit.

An anomaly occurred during the flight of the rocket, which blasted off at 7:23 p.m. (local time) from Wenchang Space Launch Centre in southern province of Hainan, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Further investigation will be carried out, it said.

The blast which was telecast live initially appeared successful as the rocket blasted off seemingly without problem. But Xinhua later reported that the rocket launch has failed.

The Long March-5 made its maiden flight in November 2016 from Wenchang, sending its payload into pre-set orbit.

The rocket, carried the Shijian-18 satellite.

The launch is the last test for the Long March-5 series before its mission to send the Chang’e-5 lunar probe into space in the later half of this year, which will return with samples, the report said.

With a weight of 7.5 tonnes, Shijian-18 is China’s latest technology experiment satellite and the heaviest satellite China has ever launched into space, it said.

It was aimed at testing China’s new Dongfanghong-5 (DFH-5) satellite platform and carry out in-orbit experiments including Q/V band satellite communication, satellite-ground laser communication technologies and an advanced Hull electric propulsion system, it said.

China is carrying out massive space programme in recent years with missions to moon and manned missions to build a space station which is currently under construction.

According to experts, the massive heavy rockets also have fined tuned China’s missile power.

The Long March-5 uses environmentally friendly fuel, including kerosene, liquid hydrogen, and liquid oxygen, rather than highly toxic propellants, it said.

In April this year China has launched its first cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou-1, into space using the country’s heaviest Long March-7 Y2 carrier rocket to dock with the orbiting experimental space station which was expected to be operationalised by 2022.

Tianzhou-1 was larger and heavier than Tiangong-2, which is 10.4 metres in length and has a maximum diametre of 3.35 meters, weighing 8.6 tonnes.