China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the two countries should “do things that are conducive to regional peace and stability, instead of flexing their muscles.”
China claims the strategic waterway virtually in its entirety and is sensitive to all foreign naval action in the area, especially by the U.S. and allies such as Australia.
Beijing's first aircraft carrier will take part in a naval review Tuesday marking the People's Republic navy's 70th anniversary, joined by latest-generation nuclear submarines, destroyers and fighter jets.
Lawrence Reilly Sr. barely survived the 1969 collision that sent half of the USS Frank E. Evans to the bottom of the South China Sea with his namesake son and 73 other shipmates trapped inside. The father spent the last years of his life unsuccessfully trying to convince the Pentagon to add those 74 names to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.