A Chinese warship sailed within yards of an American destroyer―forcing it to change course―in an “unsafe and unprofessional” encounter as the US vessel was in contested waters in the South China Sea, an official said Monday. The USS Decatur guided-missile destroyer was conducting what the military calls a “freedom of navigation operation” Sunday when it passed within 12 nautical miles of Gaven and Johnson reefs in the remote Spratly Islands. The 12-mile distance is commonly accepted as constituting the territorial waters of a landmass.

China, US destroyers in close ‘unsafe’ encounters. (2018, October 3). Manila Standard, pp. A1, A2.