BEIJING/TOKYO/TAIPEI – The US Navy said its guided-missile destroyer USS Milius conducted a navigational rights and freedoms mission in the South China Sea near the Spratly Islands on Monday.

The announcement came as China’s military simulated precision strikes against Taiwan in drills around the island, amid growing tensions between China and the US in the region. The exercise ended on Monday,

China announced the three days of drills last Saturday, after Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen returned to Taipei following a meeting in Los Angeles with US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under Beijing’s control.

The US Navy said the operation by its destroyer was consistent with international law.

“At the conclusion of the operation, USS Milius exited the excessive claim area and continued operations in the South China Sea,” a US Navy statement said. “This freedom of navigation operation upheld the rights, freedoms and lawful uses of the sea.”

In March, China and the United States sparred over the movements of the USS Milius, which China said entered its territorial waters in the South China Sea near the Paracel Islands.

China claims vast swathes of the area that overlap with exclusive economic zones of various countries, including the Philippines. Trade worth trillions of dollars flows every year through the waterway.

Meanwhile, a top Japanese government spokesman said on Monday that Tokyo has been following China’s military drills around Taiwan consistently and “with great interest”.

Japan has long worried about China’s military activities in the area, given how close its southern islands are to Taiwan.

“The importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is not only important for the security of Japan, but also for the stability of the international community as a whole,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.

The southern Japanese island of Okinawa hosts a major US air force base, and last August, when China staged war games to protest the visit of then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei, Chinese missiles landed within Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

The US has said it is also watching China’s drills closely.

The Chinese military conducted simulated precision strikes against Taiwan on Sunday.

The People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command on Monday released a short video on its WeChat account showing a nuclear-capable H-6 bomber flying in what it said was the skies to the north of Taiwan.

“The missiles are in good condition,” an unidentified voice says, as the video shows images from the cockpit.

“Start the fire control radar, lock on the target,” another voice says, showing images of a missile under the aircraft’s wing.

It then shows a pilot readying the fire control button for what it describes as a simulated attack, and then pressing the button, though it did not show any missiles being fired.

Taiwan’s military has been scrambling fighters and sending warships to shadow China’s forces, but said it would respond calmly and not provoke conflict.

On Monday morning, Taiwan’s Defence Ministry released a map of Chinese air force activities over the previous 24 hours, showing fighters again crossing the sensitive median line of the Taiwan Strait and four carrier-based Chinese J-15 fighters operating over the Pacific Ocean to Taiwan’s east.

While the ministry did not provide details, Taiwan said last week it was tracking the Chinese carrier Shandong to its east.

The ministry separately released pictures on Monday of mobile launchers for the Taiwan-made Hsiung Feng anti-ship missiles at an undisclosed location, and missile-armed fast attack boats at sea. REUTERS