A guided-missile destroyer conducted a freedom of navigation operation in the South China Sea Tuesday in the latest message from the U.S. to Beijing over its disputed territory in the Spratly Islands. China, Vietnam, and Taiwan require "either permission or advance notification" when Navy vessels pass through the area. The Gaven Reef and Johnson South Reef don't have runways and hangers like some of China’s other contested reefs in the Spratly Islands. The destroyer "asserted navigational rights and freedoms" through a freedom of navigation operation near the Peter the Great Bay in the Sea of Japan, a 7th Fleet statement said. The Navy often sends warships through the strategic South China Sea.

Source: Fox News December 22, 2020 10:18 UTC