[TRANSCRIPT]

Melissa Yingst Huber

On Tuesday, a United States ship, the USS William P. Lawrence, sailed within twelve miles of a disputed Chinese island. This was all part of a plan demonstrated by the Pentagon to show that the US is not bothered by China’s rapidly increasing military in the South China Sea. Seeing the ship caused the Chinese military to send three Chinese ships and three fighter jets to monitor the USS. William P. Lawrence until it left the area.

The disputed island is where China is reported to have built an airstrip. A statement from the Pentagon said the "USS William P. Lawrence exercised the right of innocent passage while sailing inside 12 nautical miles of a Reef, that is occupied by not only China, but also claimed by the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam,". Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 12 nautical miles is considered the limit at which a nation's rule extends off its shores. The Law of the Sea defines "innocent passage" as a transit in which a ship does not conduct any military, commercial or research activities.

The Pentagon statement said the U.S. did not notify any of the countries involved about the destroyer's transit in advance. Tuesday's passage is the third time that the U.S. Navy has conducted in the South China Sea and U.S. officials have said Tuesday that the U.S. would continue with such transits.