The guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen sailed close to artificial islands built by China in disputed waters after breaching a 12-nautical mile zone that the People’s Republic claims around the Subi and Mischief reefs in the Spratly islands, the BBC’s news website reported.
The incursion was carried out under the US’ Freedom of Navigation programme intended to challenge what it deems to be “excessive claims” to the world’s oceans and airspace.
However,
