Two U.S. warships in two days have sailed through separate disputed island chains in the South China Sea in a challenge to territorial claims, in what the U.S. Navy calls “freedom of navigation” operations. Beijing on April 28 said it had “expelled” the USS Barry, a guided-missile destroyer, from the seas around the Paracel Islands, which it claims as its own territory, saying China’s sovereignty had been violated. The U.S. Navy disputed the story, however, saying that the warship had carried out its operation successfully. The following day the Navy dispatched a larger cruiser, the USS Bunker Hill, through the...