The US Navy conducted massive drills in the South China Sea on Saturday, with two aircraft carriers involved in the exercises. According to The Wall Street Journal, hundreds of jets, helicopters, and surveillance planes took off from the USS Nimitz and the USS Ronald Reagan in Washington’s largest military drills in the region in recent years.
“The Nimitz Carrier Strike Force celebrated Independence Day with unmatched sea power while deployed to the South China Sea conducting dual carrier operations and exercises in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” The US Navy’s Seventh Fleet said in a statement.
The exercise is a show of force aimed at Beijing, who held its own drills over the weekend near the Paracel Islands, a disputed archipelago that China, Vietnam, and Taiwan all lay claim to. China’s build-up of military and research facilities on the Paracel Islands and the Spratly islands, another contested archipelago, has drawn the ire of Washington.
Since 2015, the US has run what it calls Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOP) in the South China Sea, increasing tensions in the region. The FONOPs usually involve sailing a warship near the contested archipelagos and always draw sharp condemnation from Beijing.
“The fundamental cause of instability in the South China Sea is the large-scale military activities and flexing of muscles by some non-regional country that lies tens of thousands of miles away,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a press conference on Friday.
The Bashi Channel, a waterway just south of Taiwan, has turned into another flashpoint for the US and China. Friday marked the 13th day in a row that US military aircraft flew over the Bashi Channel. The South China Morning Post reported that the US sent six large reconnaissance aircraft and two refueling tankers on Friday’s mission. The planes were reportedly searching for Chinese submarines in the area.
Imagine the US outcry against provocation and aggression if the Chinese did the same near our coast.
China should under the pretext of “freedom of navigation”
The USA is the greatest danger to world peace. Constantly provoking trouble around the world, the USA is a viper’s nest.
Reading this might make you upchuck.
“Back home we would celebrate the Fourth by launching fireworks,” said Yeoman 2nd Class Chareese Knox from Cleveland Heights, Ohio. “But nothing celebrates freedom like launching fighter jets from the middle of the ocean at night.”
https://www.c7f.navy.mil/Media/News/Display/Article/2246767/dual-carrier-strike-groups-reinforce-us-commitment-to-freedom/
Support the troops(sarcasm).
In order to hit third rate countries that have little or no defense. Not freedom. Bullying.
Sailors from both carrier strike groups continue to stand the watch, defending freedom every day of deployment, and reflecting on the freedoms we hold sacred and celebrate during this holiday…….blablabla…..ZZZzzzzzzz
Just our military wankers having a little fun.
When China gets their new carriers into operation, maybe they’ll carry on exercises in support of a free and open Caribbean/America (north and south).
China stopped us in Korea and helped stop us in Vietnam, millions of lives were lost in those wars. Maybe we have decided it’s time to spill Asian blood again so we are trying our hardest to start another war. Thank God other country’s are not as blood thirsty as we seem to be.
How dare China have influence in the South China Sea?????
When will the USA try to solve its own problems rather than attack anyone else???