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US warship ‘sailed close to’ Chinese-occupied reefs in South China Sea
- USS Montgomery was 8.5 nautical miles from Fiery Cross Reef, think tank says
- Activities near Johnson South Reef ‘could possibly be more complicated, and more provocative’
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An American warship sailed as close as 8.5 nautical miles to Fiery Cross Reef – one of Beijing’s artificial islands in the South China Sea – in the US Navy’s first such operation this year, a Chinese think tank said.
The USS Montgomery, a littoral combat warship, passed into an area near the reef, in the contested Spratly Islands, on Monday morning, according to the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative.
“The closest it got to Fiery Cross Reef was 8.5 nautical miles,” the think tank under Peking University said in a report on Wednesday, citing data from the warship’s automatic identification system.
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It said the warship had also sailed close to Johnson South Reef, which is also occupied by China.
“Its activities close to Johnson South Reef could possibly be more complicated, and more provocative,” the think tank said, adding that the warship’s automatic identification system had been turned off well before it arrived there.
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