The US Navy gave the People Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) a big shock with the dispatch of three US carrier strike groups in the South China Sea which is not so far from mainland China.
Placement of immense naval firepower is no accident as it most was stationed in the Indo-Pacific on spring patrol. Since 2017, the masses US firepower comes as Beijing becomes an aggressor to push its interest in ruling the SCS, reported in Japan Times News.
Recently, China said the US military forces were not ready and the coronavirus pandemic demonstrated that weakness. In sending the carrier strike groups to different parts of the Indo-Pacific, the US tells China it is still in the fight and ready to support allies.
As of Sunday, the US Navy reported that two carrier strike groups (CSG) are already in the Philippine Sea. Carriers now active in the region are the USS Theodore Roosevelt and the USS Nimitz CSGs, starting double carrier flight operations over the Philippine sea, mentioned in Commander U.S. Pacific Fleet.
The two carriers are practicing air defense drills, sea monitoring, resupply at sea, defensive air combat, long-range strike, and other drills said in a statement.
According to Rear Adm. Doug Verissimo, commander of Carrier Strike Group 9, he said that training for joint operation in this kind of combat theatre will increase all tactics and be ready for any situation is an advantage. He added that tensions with China and the pandemic make their job more challenging.
It is not just the USS Theodore Roosevelt and the Nimitz conducting operation in the Philippine Sea, another unit the USS Ronald Reagan is also in the vicinity based on information from the Pacific Fleet.
The only information is the three carriers are in different sectors in the Philippine Sea on Sunday. There is no information where they are exactly. One place that China will react strongly is when the fleets converge in the Luzon Strait to enter the South China Sea where encounters between the US Navy and PLAN have happened.
Many parts of the South China Sea (SCS) that aren't theirs was refuted by The Hague Ruling. But it did not stop China from purloining the Paracels and the Spratlys in the SCS. They regularly harass vessel that cannot stand up to them. China would deny the use of these sea lanes if it can. According to the US, their occupation will cost trade earnings, confirmed in BBC News.
Conducting freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs) has made the communist party fume, and the US has operated close to bases in the SCS. This made Beijing vent impotently while American warships pass unhindered. While the pandemic went on, the Chinese stealthily occupied parts of the China Sea, noted Reuters.
Chinese media show that China was not ready for three CSGs in the Pacific. Their own forces have not been seen on the high seas even nearby.
Global Times even said the US Naval Armada can be lethal to Chinese PLAN and PLA units in the South China Sea.
A Beijing-based naval expert Li Jie said the US carrier strike groups are a message by the US, it is still move powerful than China and the can do what they want. In the South China Sea, the three carriers can threaten Chinese assets, as they have done to their neighbors.
Rear Adm. James Kirk, commander of Carrier Strike Group 11, said that the US will support its allies, also keep stability and security. To keep the seas free and to benefit all nations, not just one (that's China) nation.
Related article: China Thinks US Navy's Three Aircraft Carriers Are Merely for Show, Although It Threatens Them
