China has slammed the US for sailing a warship near disputed territory in the South China Sea. In a statement on its website late yesterday, the country's defence ministry said the move is a serious illegal act and deliberately provocative. <br/><br/> A US ship entered Chinese territorial waters yesterday near the Paracel Islands, known as Xisha in Chinese. China controls all of the islands, which are also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan. <br/><br/> In a separate statement, the foreign ministry said the action had seriously violated China's sovereignty and security interests.<br/><br/>Friday's operation is the first since a tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in July ruled there is no legal basis to China's claims to nearly all of the sea which Beijing dismissed.<br/><br/>Several other nations across the region including the Philippines and Vietnam have rival claims to various parts of the South China