FONOPs during the Obama administration

During the administration of President Barack Obama, there were six instances of the United States Navy performing a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) in the South China Sea (SCS).

The SCS operations involved Arleigh-Burke class guided missile destroyers assigned to United States Seventh Fleet.

[11] In 1983, President Ronald Reagan declared that the U.S. would not ratify the 1982 Third United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III).

[12] Nevertheless, the U.S. Navy- under the Obama administration- has operated in accordance with UNCLOS III with the use of innocent passage, proper communications, and respect for nations' territorial waters.

[13] United States Pacific Fleet vessels spent a combined total of 700 days in the South China Sea during 2015 alone.

Paracel Islands and China's excessive baseline claim
Although the South China Sea disputes have brought the most media attention between 2012 and 2017, China has many excessive claims in contrast to international law.
Throughout Obama's presidency, the US Navy's Seventh Fleet routinely patrolled the Indo-Asia-Pacific to maintain the freedom of seas