On October 27, 2015, the USS Lassen, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef and other features in the Spratlys. The Lassen’s operation was the first of three innocent passage freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs) served up by the U.S. Navy in the South China Sea since China constructed seven artificial islands in the Spratlys.
Next, 95 days later, on January 30, the USS Curtis Wilbur, another Arleigh Burke-class vessel, sailed within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island in the Paracel Islands, carrying out the second FONOP.
Finally, 105 days after the Curtis Wilbur‘s FONOP, on May 10, the USS William P. Lawrence, another guided missile destroyer, sailed within 12 nautical miles of Fiery Cross Reef, exercising innocent passage. In addition to complying with innocent passage requirements under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), all three FONOPs also protested prior notification requirements.
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Since that last FONOP in May, 120 days have elapsed and the U.S. Navy has not challenged excessive maritime claims by China and other South China Sea claimants. Moreover, in the meantime, a five-judge tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration handed down the most consequential legal decision regarding China’s expansive maritime claims, clearing the path for perhaps the first high seas-assertion FONOP within 12 nautical miles of a Chinese artificial island, namely Mischief Reef.
When the Obama administration kicked off the FONOPs in the South China Sea, it wasn’t seeking attention in the international press, but it was looking to keep up a regular drumbeat. U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and other senior U.S. officials have clarified that the U.S. Navy’s FONOP program is meant to be regular and mundane (see the official U.S. fact sheet on the program here). Above all, FONOPs are not meant to be reactions to specific tactical stimuli or provocations from China or other claimants. Nor are FONOPs meant to serve as a deterrent tool.
http://thediplomat.com/2016/09/its-been-120-days-since-the-last-south-china-sea-fonop-so-what/