Two US Navy warships sailed near islands claimed by China on Sunday in a bid to challenge Chinese efforts to limit freedom of navigation in the area, US officials said.

In a move likely to anger Beijing, the Higgins, a guided-missile destroyer, and the Antietam, a guided-missile cruiser, came within 12 nautical miles of the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.

The ships carried out maneuvering operations near Tree, Lincoln, Triton and Woody islands in the Paracels, one of the officials said.

The archipelago is among a string of islets, reefs and shoals over which China has territorial disputes with its neighbours, and the operation was the latest attempt to counter what Washington sees as Beijing's efforts to limit freedom of navigation in the waters around them.