US Navy warship sails near Chinese island

A US Navy warship has sailed close to a Chinese claimed island in the South China Sea, Pentagon officials say, marking the second such operation under Donald Trump’s presidency.

The USS Stethem guided missile destroyer was ordered to sail within 12 nautical miles from Triton Island, part of the Paracel Islands located between Vietnam and China, according to a reported Sunday, citing two US military officials.

The Stethem was being shadowed by a Chinese warship as it made the pass earlier in the day.

One official said the mission was aimed at challenging territorial claims over Triton Island by China, Vietnam and Taiwan.

Territorial waters are generally defined by international law as extending at most 12 nautical miles from a country's coastline. Sailing inside these boundaries signals a country’s disregard for a nation's borders.

China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea.

Triton is one of the seven artificial islands that Beijing has constructed over the past few years, a move that Washington has denounced as a land reclamation project.

The US has also criticized China’s decision to move missile defense systems and a range of other weapons to the islands.

 This is the second time since Trump’s inauguration that the US military dispatched one of its warships to challenge China’s territorial claims.

The other pass took place in early June, when US officials confirmed that the USS Dewey had traveled within 12 nautical miles of the Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands.

China has dismissed the allegations, accusing the US of meddling in regional disputes and deliberately escalating the situation in the South China Sea.

SS