The latest U.S. freedom of navigation operation challenged China’s “excessive claims” to the South China Sea and prepared the U.S. to fight on two fronts in Asia.

The missile destroyer USS Decatur conducted a freedom of navigation operation near the disputed Paracel Islands, territories claimed by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam, last Friday. The U.S. Navy has conducted four freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea since last October, but last week’s operation was very different from its predecessors.

For the first time, the operation was carried out under the command of the U.S. Third Fleet in San Diego, not the Seventh Fleet in Japan, reports Reuters. The Third Fleet reportedly has not commanded operations in the region since World War II.

Allowing the Third Fleet to manage operations in Asia alongside the Seventh Fleet gives the U.S. the ability to operate on two fronts. For example, the U.S. could simultaneously respond to Pyongyang’s provocations on the Korean Peninsula and Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea.

The new procedures permit greater front-line involvement from the Third Fleet, which consists of more than 100 ships, including four aircraft carriers, in the Asia Pacific. The Japan-based Seventh Fleet is made up of 80 vessels, including the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan.

The U.S. is expected to carry out freedom of navigation operations more frequently in the region.

“This has proved that the US side is the troublemaker in the stability of the South China Sea,” said Chinese Ministry of Defense spokesman Wu Qian.

The introduction of a new fleet into the region has China concerned. “If the US does anything that undermines peace, security and stability in the Asia Pacific, then China needs to make its opposition clear. If its moves put China’s sovereign rights and security interests at risk, then China will definitely take necessary counter-measures,” Foreign Minister Lu Kang said at a press conference Tuesday.

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