A top US Navy admiral said he joined a routine surveillance flight over the disputed South China Sea on Saturday and that the United States was committed to freedom of navigation in the region. Adm. Scott Swift, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, confirmed at a press roundtable in Seoul on Monday that he had been aboard the seven-hour flight of a Boeing P-8 surveillance plane, but he gave no specific details about the flight. In May, Beijing called a P-8 surveillance flight carrying a CNN team over the South China Sea “irresponsible and dangerous.”

Aurelio, J. M. (2015, July 21). US admiral joins surveillance flight over West Philippine Sea. Philippine Daily Inquirer, pp. A1, A6.