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The head of China's navy has warned that U.S. naval patrols in the contested South China Sea could result in war as a minor incident could quickly get out of hand.

The warning was made by China's Admiral Wu Shengli in a teleconference with U.S. Chief of Naval Operations John Richardson, according to Reuters. The two men were speaking in the wake of a U.S. decision to send a warship within 12 nautical miles of an island that China claims is its sovereign territory, despite its location far beyond the 200 nautical miles from a mainland that the U.N. Law of the Sea grants national sovereignty to.

Wu called the U.S. decision to sail the ships provocative while he warned of the possibility of violence. While tensions between the two countries have intensified in the wake of the U.S. announcement and decision to send patrols to the region, cooperation between the two countries is still on the table.

Both naval officers agreed to reduce the likelihood of a clash by following protocols in place to avoid conflict. They also said that planned visits by members of each navy to China and the United States were still going to take place as planned.

China, along with Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and the Philippines believes it has the right to develop natural gas resources and fish in the waters around the Paracel and Spratly Islands. Unlike these other nations, the islands and the South China Sea are not within 200 nautical miles of China's mainland.

Each country with claims either sends naval patrols through the waters, or has built military or civilian structures on land masses. China and Vietnam have even gone so far as to build islands from material from the seafloor to strengthen their claims in the region.