Japan Times: U.S. aircraft carrier patrols disputed sea amid China buildup
The U.S. military has deployed the third aircraft carrier this year to patrol the disputed South China Sea, where Washington has criticized Beijing’s military buildup on new man-made islands.
Original Article: U.S. aircraft carrier patrols disputed sea amid China buildup
Cover Photo by Reuters.
According to this article, USA had stepped up their pressure on China in the South China Sea by deploying 3 aircraft carriers to the disputed region.
The 97,000-ton USS Ronald Reagan, carrying more than 70 aircraft, anchored in Manila Bay on Tuesday after plying the strategic waters for meetings between navy officials of the two countries and liberty for its thousands of sailors after weeks at sea.
The U.S. military presence in the region “has supported our ability to defend our nation and our allies” and “promotes our ability to safeguard freedom of the seas, unimpeded commerce, to deter conflict and coercion and to promote adherence to rules-based international order,” Rear Admiral Marc Dalton told reporters on board the ship.
The Philippines is definitely welcoming this strategic change in the theatre, as they had been at the end of endless “bullying” by China, which they have no effective military capabilities to actually form any sort of effective deterrence.
China has reportedly deployed anti-ship missiles, surface-to-air missiles, electronic jammers and other equipment on islands it built on disputed reefs in the Spratly Islands, and landed a bomber aircraft on Woody Island in the Paracels, sparking alarm among rival claimants and the United States. Washington has no territorial claims in the region but has declared that freedom of navigation and overflight in the waters is in U.S. national interest.
However, as usual, China insists it is their sovereign territory – which sets them up for an impossible-to-resolve standoff between China, and effectively, the rest of the world, in regards to South China Sea.
China argues that it is within its rights to build up defenses on islands in the South China Sea that it claims are its sovereign territory. There is fear that Beijing will use its new islands, including some with runways, to project its military might and potentially to restrict navigation in the busy waters.
Original Article: U.S. aircraft carrier patrols disputed sea amid China buildup