Triton Island US Destroyer Sails Past Disputed Island In South China Sea

A Pentagon spokesman said the destroyer’s passage 12 nautical miles away from the island was conducted to ” challenge excessive maritime claims” of China, Taiwan and Vietnam in the South Pacific on Saturday to counter efforts to limit freedom of navigation, the Pentagon said, prompting an angry reaction from Beijing.

Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said no ships from China’s military were in the vicinity of the guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur when it passed near Triton Island in the Paracel Islands.