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Old 03-13-2018, 10:25 AM
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Arrow US, Japan kick off bilateral exercises in disputed South China Sea

US, Japan kick off bilateral exercises in disputed South China Sea
By JESSE JOHNSON | Japan Times, Tokyo (Tribune News Service) | Published: 3-13-18
RE: https://www.stripes.com/news/pacific...a-sea-1.516528

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) steams alongside Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) on March 9, 2018 in the South China Sea.

The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group has kicked off bilateral exercises with the Maritime Self-Defense Force, including one of the largest vessels in Japan’s fleet, in the disputed South China Sea, the U.S. Navy said Tuesday.

The Navy, which said the Carl Vinson was on a “regularly scheduled deployment in the Western Pacific,” said the aircraft carrier and the guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer were conducting combined operations with the MSDF’s Ise helicopter destroyer as part of drills aimed at bolstering maritime interoperability between the long-standing allies.

The Navy said the exercises kicked off Sunday as both ships transited the South China Sea.

This didn’t mean the two navies would remain in the same location for the duration of the exercise, Lt. Cmdr. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for the Vinson strike group, told The Japan Times, adding that he wouldn’t discuss specifics regarding future ship movements for security reasons.

Hawkins said the exact duration of the exercises would be announced later, but added that “it will last more than several days.”

The Navy said that as part of the exercise, four MSDF liaison officers had embarked on the Vinson to support combined operations. The operations will include formation steaming as well as anti-submarine and air-defense training, and the Ise will also conduct a replenishment-at-sea with the Carl Vinson.

“Collaborating with maritime partners in open seas is how we have maintained security, prosperity and stability in the Indo-Pacific for more than 70 years,” he said. “Carl Vinson operated with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force last year, and we are doing so again this year.”

The MSDF and the Carl Vinson conducted joint drills last April in the western Pacific and in the East China Sea in March.

Further west, in the South China Sea, Beijing has said it will not give an inch in the key waterway, with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi saying Thursday that his country’s “resolve to protect the peace and the stability” there “cannot be shaken.”

China claims virtually the entire South China Sea but the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have overlapping claims in the waters.

Beijing has stoked concern in the region after building up a series of man-made outposts in the Spratly Island chain, including what experts say are now fully functioning air and naval bases.

The U.S. has also criticized the Chinese militarization of its South China Sea islands, fearing the outposts could be used to restrict free movement in the waterway — which includes vital sea lanes through which about $3 trillion in global trade passes each year — and has conducted numerous freedom of navigation patrols in the area in recent years.

Beijing has disputed this claim, saying the militarization of the outposts has been for self-defense purposes.

Experts say China hopes to secure control of the strategic waterway, which it envisions as a bastion for its nuclear-armed submarines.

The Ise, a nearly 200-meter (646-foot) helicopter destroyer, displaces 18,000 tons and sails with three helicopters. The ship’s primary missions include anti-submarine warfare, mine countermeasures, logistics, and search and rescue.

The Carl Vinson strike group, meanwhile, also includes Carrier Air Wing 2 and a complement of more than 70 aircraft, Destroyer Squadron 1, and the guided-missile destroyer USS Michael Murphy.

The Michael Murphy conducted a passing exercise with the French frigate FNS Vendemiaire while operating in the Western Pacific and South China Sea in January and February, the U.S. Navy said. Sailors practiced communication and ship-handling techniques.

The Carl Vinson strike group completed a historic port visit to Vietnam on March 9, which marked the first time a U.S. aircraft carrier had visited in more than 40 years.
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