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China claims U.S. destroyer 'driven off'
[FREEBEACON] A U.S. Navy destroyer carried out a second transit near a disputed South China Sea island claimed by China and two other nations, the Pentagon announced Saturday.

China's Defense Ministry denounced the warship transit and said its forces had forced the destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur out of the area.
Did they fly a drone directly overhead?
Pentagon front man Cmdr. Bill Urban said the freedom of navigation operation by the Wilbur took place Saturday near Triton Island in the Paracel Islands chain in the northern part of the sea "to challenge excessive maritime claims."

"This operation challenged attempts by the three claimants, China, Taiwan and Vietnam, to restrict navigation rights and freedoms around the features they claim by policies that require prior permission or notification of transit within territorial seas," Urban said in a statement.

The Wilbur, a guided missile destroyer, passed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island.

"This operation was about challenging excessive maritime claims that restrict the rights and freedoms of the United States and others, not about territorial claims to land features," he added.
Posted by: Fred 2016-02-01
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=443878