A US Navy warship on Saturday challenged Chinese claims to disputed islands in the South China Sea, the US 7th Fleet said in a statement -- the second operation of its kind this week
The guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold sailed near the Spratly Islands -- known as the Nansha Islands in China -- in the southeastern South China Sea in a so-called"freedom of navigation operation" , the 7th Fleet statement said.The US Navy operation in the island chain where China has built military foritifications on man-made islands challenged"restrictions on innocent passage imposed by the People's Republic of China , Vietnam, and Taiwan," the statement said.
US and Japanese warplanes put on show of force as tensions spike with China and RussiaOn Wednesday, it performed the same mission in the Paracel Islands, a chain in the northern South China Sea known as the Xisha Islands in China, which is also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.Beijing on Wednesday reacted angrily to the US Navy's Paracels FONOP.