UPDATE 2-U.S. warship sails near Chinese-controlled S.China Sea islands

(Adds Chinese military comment)
TAIPEI, Feb 5 (Reuters) - A U.S. warship sailed near the
Chinese-controlled Paracel Islands in the disputed South China
Sea on Friday in a freedom of navigation operation, the U.S.
Navy said, the first such mission under President Joe Biden's
new administration.
China's military condemned the move, saying it had
dispatched naval and air units to follow and warn away the ship.
The busy waterway is one of a number of flashpoints in the
U.S.-China relationship, which include a trade war, U.S.
sanctions, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
China has been infuriated by repeated U.S. sailings near the
islands Beijing occupies and controls in the South China Sea.
China says it has irrefutable sovereignty and has accused
Washington of deliberately stoking tensions.
The U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet said the destroyer USS John S.
McCain "asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the
vicinity of the Paracel Islands, consistent with international
law".
The freedom of navigation operation upheld the rights,
freedoms and lawful uses of the sea recognised in international
law by challenging the "unlawful restrictions on innocent
passage imposed by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam", it said.
The Southern Theatre Command of China's People's Liberation
Army said the ship had entered into what it termed the
territorial waters of the Paracels without permission,
"seriously infringing upon China's sovereignty and security".
The United States was "deliberately disrupting the good
atmosphere of the South China Sea of ​​peace, friendship, and
cooperation", it added.
China took full control of the Paracels in 1974 after a
short battle with South Vietnamese forces. Vietnam, as well as
Taiwan, continue to claim the islands.
Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines have claims to other
parts of the South China Sea, where China has been building
artificial islands and constructing air bases on some of them.
The same U.S. ship involved in this mission earlier this
week transited the sensitive Taiwan Strait, drawing an angry
response from Beijing. Last month, a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group entered the
South China Sea for what the Navy said was routine
operations.