The U.S. Department of Defense has dispatched a Navy warship near a disputed island located in the South China Sea.
Officials told Fox News that the guided-missile destroyer, the USS Stethem, sailed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island, part of the Paracel Islands, which is claimed by several nations. The destroyer was trailed by a Chinese warship when it sailed by the island on Sunday morning, the officials said.
The U.S. Navy conducted a “freedom of navigation exercise,” or FONOPS, with the maneuver, Fox reported.
But the Pentagon declined to officially comment on the move. “We conduct routine and regular [freedom of navigation operations], as we have done in the past and will continue to do in the future,” a spokesman said.
“Beijing has undertaken substantial upgrades of its military infrastructure in the Paracels,” says the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.
