The latest freedom of navigation operation involved two U. S. guided-missile destroyers.
Two U. S. Navy warships conducted a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) on Sunday in the South China Sea, near islands occupied by China in the Paracel Islands. The operation is the first known FONOP to involve two U. S. Navy warships.
According to Reuters, which first reported on the operation, a U. S. Navy Arleigh Burke -class destroyer, USS Higgins, and a cruiser, USS Antietam, sailed within 12 nautical miles of islands controlled by China in the disputed Paracel Islands.
“The U. S. military vessels carried out maneuvering operations near Tree, Lincoln, Triton and Woody islands in the Paracels,” Reuters reported, citing a U. S. official with knowledge of the operations.
U. S. freedom of navigation operations are designed to protest maritime claims that are excessive under international law.
In the Paracel Islands, U. S. freedom of navigation operations have been designed to protest China’s prior notification requirements for innocent passage transits with 12 nautical miles of features and Beijing’s straight baselines around the island group, which are illegal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Under the Trump administration, the U. S.
