Pentagon sends two carrier groups into South China Sea amid tensions with Beijing

[Boats]

Pentagon sends two carrier groups into South China Sea amid tensions with Beijing
By: Zack Budryk - The Hill News - 02-09-21
Re: https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5...ijing-tensions

Amid condemnation from Chinese officials, two U.S. aircraft carrier groups conducted joint exercises in the South China Sea, the Navy said in a statement Tuesday.

The Navy said that the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group and the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group “conducted a multitude of exercises aimed at increasing interoperability between assets as well as command and control capabilities,” according to Reuters. The activity reportedly marked the first operations by two U.S. carriers in the region in about seven months.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the U.S. move constituted a deliberate “show of force” and undermined stability in the region.

“China will continue to take necessary measures to firmly safeguard national sovereignty and security and work with countries in the region to firmly safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea,” he said, according to the news service.

U.S. officials have accused Beijing of seeking to militarize the waterway and ignoring contradictory claims from smaller nations such as Malaysia and Vietnam.

“We are committed to ensuring the lawful use of the sea that all nations enjoy under international law,” Rear Adm. Jim Kirk, commander of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group, said in a statement, according to Reuters.

Late last week, the USS John McCain sailed close to the Paracel Islands, a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea, in the first freedom of navigation operation since President Biden took office. The U.S. also sailed U.S. warships through the Taiwan Strait last week for the first time under the Biden’s presidency, sparking condemnation from Beijing.

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You may want to read the Forbes Report:
South China Sea Disputes Off-Limits, Says NATO
Re: https://www.forbes.com/sites/timdais...h=408a80bdddaf

Beijing’s Ambiguity

On May 18, China scrambled two fighter jets to intercept a U.S. military EP-3 reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea. Washington claimed that it was an “unsafe intercept” of the aircraft which was conducting a routine mission in international airspace over the body of water. The U.S. also stated that the two Chinese fighter jets came dangerously close, within 50 feet of the U.S. airplane.

Beijing claimed otherwise. "It needs to be pointed out that American aircraft have constantly entered China's coastal waters conducting reconnaissance, which has posed a serious threat to China's maritime and air safety," said Hong Lei, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman.

The incident came just a week after China scrambled fighter jets as a U.S. Navy destroyer, the USS William P. Lawrence, sailed within 12 miles of one of China’s largest artificial islands, Fiery Cross Reef, in the South China Sea.

Washington said that it was exercising freedom of navigation rights and “right of innocent passage,” which as just stated is maintained by international law. China, for its part, said that the navy passage was a violation of its sovereign territory.

While NATO stated that it won’t become involved in the ongoing South China Sea dispute, there has been speculation that nations in Asian concerned over China's claim of more than 80% of the South China Sea, where more than $5 trillion in trade passes each year, could form its own alliance. This claim also took another hit this week when more maps were discovered throwing dispute over Beijing's claim to most of the South China Sea.

Though it would take considerable political courage for any nation in Asia (particularly since China is the largest trading partner of most of these concerned nations) to join an alliance to counter Beijing’s aggression, it seems not to far removed from NATO’s original plan to counter Soviet aggression in Europe. The former was a geopolitical nightmare for much of the 20th Century, while the later is becoming its equivalent in the 21st Century.
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Personal note: I would imagine the newly made island's China has made also extends the mainland boundaries even further out from the mainland. These are still under litigation.

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