USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54) on May 20, 2021. US Navy Photo
U.S. Navy officials are denying a guided-missile destroyer conducting a freedom of navigation operation in the South China Sea was “expelled” from the Paracel Island Chain on Thursday.
USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54), “asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the vicinity of the Paracel Islands, consistent with international law,” according to a statement from U.S. 7th Fleet.
Claimed by China, Vietnam and Taiwan, the Paracels have been under...