US Destroyer Sails Near Disputed Islands in South China Sea

Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold (DDG 65), forward-deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations, conducts underway operations in the South China Sea on July 13, 2022. U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters

The United States sent a destroyer through the South China Sea on July 13, in a region where the Chinese regime has made increasingly aggressive moves to bolster its illegal territorial claims.

The USS Benfold sailed near the disputed Paracel Islands—which China calls the Xisha Islands—as part of the U.S. Navy’s “freedom of navigation operation,” the U.S. Indo–Pacific Command said in a statement.