U.S. Navy Planning More ‘Freedom of Navigation’ Operations in South China Seahttp://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/02/14/us-navy-planning-operations-near-chinese-claimed-islands/Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is currently considering a U.S. Navy plan to sail warships more often by Chinese-claimed islands in the South China Sea, a defense official said Monday.
The plan comes as China has increasingly added military equipment to its arsenal on the Spratly and Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims as its own despite competing claims by five other East Asian nations.
The plan would see U.S. warships conducting more “Freedom of Navigation Operations,” or FONOPs, within 12 nautical miles of the islands.
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The plan would be a departure from the Obama administration, which had restricted such operations to avoid a confrontation with China. During that time, China ramped up its construction and militarization of archipelagoes of small islands and reefs in between Vietnam and the Philippines.
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