The People's Liberation Army on Wednesday drove away a United States warship that had illegally intruded into the territorial waters of China's Huangyan Island in the South China Sea, a military spokesman said on Wednesday.

He Tiecheng, a spokesman for the PLA's Southern Theater Command Navy, said in a statement that on Wednesday, the US destroyer USS Higgins illegally entered China's territorial waters around Huangyan Island without the approval of the Chinese government.

The spokesman said that the Southern Theater Command Navy organized forces to track, monitor, warn and expel the warship in accordance with the law and regulations.

"The actions of the US military seriously infringed upon China's sovereignty and security, severely undermined peace and stability in the South China Sea, and violated international law and basic norms of international relations," the official said.

The naval forces of the Southern Theater Command maintain a high level of alertness at all times, resolutely safeguarding national sovereignty and security as well as regional peace and stability, He noted.