A US Navy destroyer sailed near islands claimed by China in the South China Sea on Sunday, a US official told Reuters, potentially angering Beijing at a time of tense relations between the two countries. Beijing and Washington are locked in a trade war that has seen them impose increasingly severe rounds of tariffs on each other’s imports. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the destroyer Decatur traveled within 12 nautical miles of Gaven and Johnson Reefs in the Spratly Islands.

US warship sails near disputed South China Sea islands. (2018, October 2). Manila Bulletin, p. 3.