Pentagon: Sending jets and warships near China islands ‘next step’

‘The Pentagon says the United States is ready to deploy surveillance aircraft and naval ships to test China’s territorial claims over man-made islands in the South China Sea.

“That would be the next step,” Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren told reporters on Thursday.

US officials say American surveillance planes and naval vessels have not yet ventured within 12 nautical miles of the man-made islands–the standard territorial zone around natural land.’

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