(CNN) A US destroyer has sailed within 12 nautical miles of a Chinese-claimed island in the South China Sea, a highly-contested stretch of water where China's been reclaiming land and building islands, US officials told CNN Friday.

In its own statement late Friday, China's defense ministry said two Chinese Navy ships "took immediate action to identify and verify the US ship, and warned and dispelled it."

"China holds indisputable sovereignty over the islands and their surrounding waters in the South China Sea," ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang said in a statement. "By repeatedly sending military ships into these areas without authorization, the US has seriously harmed Chinese sovereignty and security, violated basic rules of international relations, and harmed regional peace and stability," the spokesman said.

China's defense ministry claimed that by carrying out these so-called infringements, the US had "damaged the atmosphere of military-to-military relations between the two countries, caused close encounters by air and naval forces, which could easily trigger miscalculation or even accidents at sea or in air."

The defense ministry called the American behavior a "serious political and military provocation against China. The Chinese military is firmly opposed to it."

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