US warship sails by contested island chain in South China Sea in message to Beijing, official says

fox ^ | 09/30/2018 | Louis Tomlinson

[chief lee runamok]

A U.S. warship sailed Sunday near two contested Chinese man-made islands in the South China Sea, the location where Beijing has built up military fortifications despite a pledge not to do so, a U.S. defense official told Fox News.

[chief lee runamok]

A target rich environment.

[PIF]

A U.S. warship sailed = guided-missile destroyer USS Decatur (DDG 73) which does not have sails ...

[Mark17]

Looks like they might have been daring the Chinese to try and stop them.

[MichaelCorleone]

Wars and rumors of wars...

[Starboard]

The Spratly Islands are in the South China Sea, but they are roughly 500 miles from China’s southermost point. That’s a very long distance beyond the shores of China.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

And the Chinese now have intimidated the Philippines into approving this.

[Starboard]

And the Chinese now have intimidated the Philippines into approving this.

**************

I wonder what the quid pro quo was?

[Logical me]

It’s about time the Chinese have to know they will fail. Their economy is in the tank now and the Tariffs will finish it. We should do no business with China and let them crumble.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

In Manila, I think the majority of shop keepers are Chinese...

[Tallguy]

I think you put your finger on it. The Chinese will sqwawk when the USN sails by or the USAF overflies, but will ultimatly do nothing. They could hurt us, but their new Navy would be on the botto. An their ‘islands’ would be TLAM’ed outnof existance. This is about resources: oil & gas plus fisheries. They are securing those resources by means of intimidation of their neighbors.

[Chode]

and yet, the call them Sailors... it’s tradition

[PIF]

What about the tradition of saying a ship is ‘steaming’ as they do use steam boilers ...

[Chode]

yes there are still Navy ships with steam boilers

[PIF]

‘churned’, ‘slipped’, and ‘navigated’ also work, ‘sailing’ not so much

[GreenLanternCorps]

[Wildbill22]

THAT is a WARSHIP!

We as Americans do a lot of stupid and wrong things, but our Navy is pretty awesome.

[Paal Gulli]

A wise man does not poke a bear unless he has his bear rifle loaded, mounted, and trained on the bear.

So undoubtedly Trump is prepared for any response this move might generate, regardless how out of proportion to this “provocation” it might be.

[Wildbill22]

I apologize for repeating my patriotism,,, but what that pic says to me is;
-don’t mess with me..
-don’t mess with my family...
-and you shouldn’t probably mess with my friends.

Again,
sorry.

[Wildbill22]

And BTW, we need about 200 more of those....

[PIF]

You did nothing to apologize for so sleep soundly tonight.