A United States Navy guided missile destroyer has challenged Chinese claims of sovereignty in and around islands in the South China Sea, with a US Navy statement saying such claims violate international law and "pose a serious threat to the freedom of the seas".
The USS Benfold sailed around the Paracel Islands, known as the Xisha Islands in China, in what the Navy calls a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP), Lt. Mark Langford, spokesperson for the US 7th Fleet, said in the statement.
The Paracels are a collection of 130 small coral islands and reefs in the north-western part of the South China Sea. They have no indigenous population to speak of, only Chinese military garrisons amounting to 1400 people, according to the CIA Factbook.
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