Beijing issued a scathing rebuke Monday of a U.S. warship's patrol a day earlier near a contested island occupied by Chinese troops in the South China Sea — the latest irritant in the two powers' increasingly fraught relationship.
The patrol, the second known "freedom of navigation" operation (FONOP) under the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, came as the White House appeared to grow ever more frustrated with China over its moves in the waterway and lack of progress on the North Korean nuclear issue.
Sunday's operation, which involved the Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture-based USS Stethem guided-missile destroyer, was conducted within 12 nautical miles (22 km) of Triton Island in the Paracel archipelago, a U.S. defense official confirmed to The Japan Times.
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