Beijing, Oct 27 (IANS): Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday warned the US not to "make trouble out of nothing" in the South China sea, the media reported.

Wang's remark came after a US Navy ship in the early hours of Tuesday sailed close to artificial islands China has built in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.

Guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen breached the 12-nautical mile zone China claims around Subi and Mischief reefs in the Spratly archipelago.

"We are checking out the matter," the Global Times quoted the Chinese minister as saying.

"If it is true, we advise the US to think twice before its action," he said, urging the US "not to act in an imprudent way and not to make trouble out of nothing".

China claims most of the South and East China seas. Other countries in South East Asia have competing claims for the Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands and Scarborough Shoal, which are thought to have resource-rich waters around them.

The reefs, which were submerged, were turned into islands by China by a massive dredging project which began in 2013.