CHINA-US: US AND PLA NAVY SHIPS AVOID COLLISION
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The Arleigh Burke guided-missile destroyer USS Decatur (DDG-73) was approached on September 30, morning in the South China Sea by a PLAN Luyang-class destroyer in what Navy officials are calling an "unsafe and unprofessional maneuver". Cmdr. Nathan Christensen, a U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesman, told journalists that at about 8:30 a.m. local time, Decatur was conducting freedom of navigation operations (FONOps) in the vicinity of Gaven Reef in the South China Sea. China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Luyang-class destroyer approached USS Decatur, which was operating within 12 nautical miles of the Gaven and Johnson Reefs in the Spratly Islands. He said “The (People’s Republic of China) PRC destroyer conducted a series of increasingly aggressive maneuvers accompanied by warnings for Decatur to depart the area. The PRC destroyer approached within 45 yards of Decatur’s bow, after which Decatur maneuvered to prevent a collision”. The Decatur’s route passed rocks and reefs that China has turned into artificial islands in a bid to extend its South China Sea territorial claims. These islands are not recognized by international law as meeting the requirements to qualify as sovereign territory. Decatur has previously crossed paths with Chinese destroyers in the South China Sea.
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