China has denied a request for a U.S. Navy warship to visit the Chinese port city of Qingdao in recent days, a U.S. defence official said on Tuesday, at a time of tense ties between the world's two largest economies.
This marks at least the second time China has denied a request by the U.S. this month, having earlier rejected a request for two U.S. Navy ships to visit Hong Kong, as the political crisis in the former British colony deepened.
The defence official said the destroyer was supposed to visit on Sunday but China denied the request prior to that.
U.S. military warships have occasionally made visits to China, most recently in 2017, the defence official said.
The last U.S. Navy ship to visit Qingdao was the destroyer Benfold in 2016.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang, speaking at a daily news briefing in Beijing, said he had no understanding of the situation, and referred questions to the military.
China's Ministry of Defence did not respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this month, China denied a request by the U.S. Navy transport dock ship Green Bay and guided-missile cruiser Lake Erie to visit Hong Kong.
