U.S. patrol sought to avoid provocation, not reinforce China island claim: officials
By Andrea Shalal and David Brunnstrom
Reuters
Nov. 7, 2015
Excerpt:
Julian Ku, a professor of constitutional law at Hofstra University, wrote in the Lawfare blog that Washington had chosen the weakest type of freedom-of-navigation operation available, apparently at the bidding of the White House.
“(B)y limiting the USS Lassen’s transit to an ‘innocent passage,’ the U.S. is implicitly recognizing that China is entitled to a 12 nm (nautical mile) territorial sea around its artificial island on Subi Reef,” he said.