Washington caused a row when USS Lassen sailed close to the artificial islands in the Spratly archipelago in the South China Sea but it apparently plans to send more despite a clear warning from Beijing, who claims sovereignty over the area.
“The US sent the destroyer to the Tomahawk to see the reaction of Beijing. The US considers these international waters but China announced its own territorial claim around the artificial islands. China's first reaction was controlled. But let's see what happens next, maybe a week later, when the United States will continue to patrol the area. I think there will be a change in the resolution of the territorial disputes in the South China Sea complicating the situation in the region and it is connected with the manifestation of the return of the United States to Asia,” Vietnamese historian Nguyen Manh Ha told Sputnik Vietnam.
