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 destroyer nearly rams US warship. (2018, October 3). Philippine Daily Inquirer, pp. A1, A12.