correspondent jim sciutto is joining us. you saw china s man made islands. we re told this mission could happen at any hour now. the u.s. taking this step to make clear it does not view these manufactured islands as territory and therefore considers the waters around them international. this is the second message the obama administration delivered to china this year over these islands. in may we flew on a u.s. aircraft over these islands, a message from the u.s. it does not recognize the air space over them as chinese, either. we received multiple warnings like this one from chinese navy on the ground. military aircraft, this is chinese navy, you are approaching our military alert zone. leave immediately. destroyers are expected to hear similar warnings on the bridge. it is acting to keep shipping lanes open in international
this is cnn, i m brooke baldwin. we re following breaking news. the u.s. navy is about to send a destroyer to the south china sea. let s go to our chief correspondent jim sciutto. what do you know? defense official confirms that the u.s. navy is prepared to second a destroyer within 12 miles of china s manmade islands in the south china sea. that plan has the president s approval. why is 12 miles key? 12 miles, those are internationally recognized as sovereign waters, but the u.s. does not recognize these manmade islands as sovereign territory. these are international waters and this sailing of a navy ship inside that 12-mile line would be a message from the u.s. navy saying these are international waters. this is the second tomb this it year that the u.s. navy would have sent such a message.
our breaking news, president obama gives the go ahead for a u.s. destroyer to approach china s manmade islands in the south china sea. that s a potential direct challenge to beijing s efforts to control the area. we re back with retired general wesley clark, former nato supreme allied commander. is that a real threat to china right now? what will this mean? well, it s not a real threat, but it is symbolic. and china has to decide how to respond. do they respect freedom of the seas and navigation? do they continue to issue warnings? will they do something like fire a shot across the bow of the destroyer or send out other ships to meet it? this is going to be a very interesting experience and probably we ll see more of this in the future. they re going to send that destroyer within 12 miles of those manmade islands. outside the so-called international chain, if you will, how do you think the chinese will respond?
homeless in areas where u.s. allies are already grappling with terrorism. and missing work. in an exclusive new interview gop presidential candidate marco rubio criticizes the habits of federal workers but says that s not the same as his own record of missing votes in the u.s. senate. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. this is cnn breaking news. breaking news. a direct u.s. challenge to china in an area of the world where tensions have been nearing the breaking point. president obama gives the go ahead for an american destroyer to pass within 12 miles of china s manmade islands in the south china sea. the pentagon is strongly suggesting there will be more u.s. combat raids in iraq at the same time as we get dramatic new video and new details on the rescue of dozens of hostages at an isis prison stormed by u.s.
islanding by building landing strips for military aircraft, ports for chinese navy ships, even placing artillery on some of these islands. the construction has stopped, but i m told that s only because they have completed that construction by now. you know, wolf, some people refer to these islands as unsinkable aircraft carriers. in effect they have that way to project power in this case 600 miles from china s shore. i remember when you got that exclusive look over those manmade islands. there s another developing story we re following right now for the first time we re seeing this new video that came out of that daring u.s.-kurdish commando raid last week when one american soldier unfortunately was killed in that raid. we re also now getting indications more of this may be in the works? that s right. in fact, when i pressed defense secretary ashton carter about the possibility of u.s. forces on the ground facing more combat in iraq, he said at the time that we will see more missio