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This US Navy photo, first obtained by gcaptain.com, shows the incident between USS Decatur (left) and Luoyang.
(US Navy)
A Chinese destroyer approached a stone's throw from an American ship while the US ship sailed near controversial islands in the South China Sea, showed great photos released Tuesday.
In the photos, first obtained by gcaptain.com, the Luoyang destroyer of the People's Republic of China is seen less than 45 meters from the USS Decatur, before the US ship is forced to s & rsquo; move away to avoid a collision near Gaven's reefs on Sunday in the US Pacific Fleet. The spokesman, the Cmdr. Tim Gorman said.
The photos were considered legitimate, but it was unclear how they were obtained, a US Navy official told Stars and Stripes.
This US Navy photo, first obtained by gcaptain.com, shows the incident between USS Decatur (left) and Luoyang.
(US Navy)
The destroyer conducted an "unsafe and unprofessional maneuver," said Gorman. He added that the Chinese ship had carried out a series of increasingly aggressive maneuvers accompanied by warnings calling for the departure of Decatur.
The USS Decatur, a guided missile destroyer, was conducting a freedom of navigation operation in the South China Sea, Fox News told a US defense official in a statement. The operation was conducted with the aim of "upholding the rights and freedoms of all States under international law. Decatur sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Gaven and Johnson reefs in the Spratly Islands, "said the official.
China claims rights over most of the strategic waterway and built artificial islands on reefs and equipped them with airstrips, radar domes and missile systems.
China has opposed the entry of the US warship into the waters surrounding the reefs, said Tuesday the Chinese Ministry of Defense. Chinese authorities have confirmed that they sent Luoyang to chase the USS Decatur and urged the United States to put an end to its "provocative" actions.
Lucas Tomlinson of Fox News and Associated Press contributed to this report.
