It Was Not the Philippines This Time: A U.S. Warship Entered Xianbin Reef at Dawn, While the PLA Tracked and Monitored It Throughout

The story

This time, the United States sent a warship into waters near Xianbin Reef. The real danger is not how powerful a single littoral combat ship may be, but that Washington is pushing maritime friction between China and the Philippines toward a China-U.S. military standoff. In the early hours of October 20, the U.S. littoral combat ship USS Charleston entered waters near Xianbin Reef in China's Nansha Islands without permission from the Chinese government.