The Chinese military said on Friday it expelled the U.S. guided-missile destroyer USS Halsey after it illegally trespassed into Chinese territorial waters off the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command has deployed its naval and air forces to "track, monitor and warn away" the vessel, said Senior Colonel Tian Junli, the spokesperson of the theater command, in a statement.

(Cover: Photo courtesy of the Southern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army)