USS Lassen to challenge 12 nautical mile territorial limits of Chinese artificial islands with P-8A flying cover

The U.S. Navy has dispatched USS Lassen to challenge the 12 nautical mile territorial limits of Chinese-controlled Subi and Mischief reefs in the Spratly Islands. The ship would likely be accompanied by a P-8A.

By U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate2nd Class Inez Lawson (http://www.navy.mil; exact Source) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

However, additional patrols would follow in coming weeks and these patrols could be around built up structures by Vietnam and the Philippines in the archipelago.

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