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Three aircraft carriers of the US Navy they patrol the Pacific Ocean at the same time. And China is not happy

2020-06-16T08:48:32.881Z


The deployment of three U.S. aircraft carriers 100,000 tons in the Pacific Ocean for the first time in years has sparked a rapid reaction from China.


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China shows off military muscle amid coronavirus pandemic 3:59

Hong Kong (CNN) - The deployment of three U.S. Navy aircraft carriers 100,000 tons in the Pacific Ocean for the first time in years has sparked a rapid reaction from China, with state-sponsored media saying Beijing will not back down in defending its interests in the region.

USS Ronald Reagan and USS Theodore Roosevelt patrol in the western Pacific, while USS Nimitz is in the east, according to press releases from the US Navy. Each ship contains more than 60 aircraft, representing the largest deployment of U.S. aircraft carriers in the Pacific since 2017, when tensions with North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program was at its peak.

The ships' presence was first highlighted in an Associated Press report on Friday.

"Large-scale aircraft carriers and strike groups are phenomenal symbols of American naval power. I'm really excited that we have three of them right now, ”Rear Admiral Stephen Koehler, director of operations for the Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii, told the AP.

On Sunday, the Global Times spokesman for the Chinese Communist Party said that aircraft carriers could threaten soldiers in the disputed South China Sea.

"By concentrating these carriers, the United States is trying to demonstrate to the entire region and even the world that it remains the most powerful naval force, as they could enter the South China Sea and threaten Chinese soldiers on the Xisha and Nansha islands ( Paracel and the Spratly Islands), as well as ships passing through nearby waters, so that the United States can carry out its hegemonic policy, ”the Global Times quoted Li Jie, a Beijing-based naval expert.

The report, published on the official website in English of the People's Liberation Army, also highlighted the weapons available to China's military, adding that Beijing could conduct drills in response to show its firepower.

"China has weapons of destruction of aircraft carriers such as the DF-21D and DF-26 anti-ship ballistic missiles," the report says.

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China's counter-narrative

The deployments mean that three of the seven active aircraft carriers in the US Navy they are found in the Pacific. The other four are in port for maintenance.

Collin Koh, a researcher at the Institute for Defense and Strategic Studies in Singapore, said China reacted strongly because the presence of the aircraft carriers was in conflict with Beijing's representation of the US Navy. as a force paralyzed by the coronavirus pandemic.

"It runs counter to the narrative that China wanted to expose that the United States was under stress in the Pacific," Koh said.

In fact, the Roosevelt returned to the sea on June 4 after spending weeks in the port of Guam following a coronavirus outbreak on board in March, when more than 1,000 of the nearly 4,900 crew members tested positive.

READ : Commander of aircraft carrier struck by coronavirus outbreak warns that "decisive action" by the Navy is needed

"We have returned Theodore Roosevelt to the sea as a symbol of hope and inspiration, and an instrument of national power because we are TR," said Roosevelt's commander, Captain Carlos Sardiello, in a statement.

The Reagan returned to the sea in late May after crew members were put into restricted motion at its home port in Japan to ensure that covid-19 was deployed without incident. It has also been loaded with more than 1,000 tons of ammunition, "enough combat power to make the ship settle 12 inches below the waterline," said a statement from the US Navy.

The measure comes after the U.S. Pacific Fleet He said last month that all of his deployed submarines were at sea conducting operations in the western Pacific. No numbers were given, but experts said it likely involved more than eight of the difficult-to-track fast-attack ships.

Carl Schuster, former director of operations for the United States Pacific Command Joint Intelligence Center, said it was not a coincidence.

"The (Chinese Navy) does not know where those submarines are and that complicates any calculation of response and planning," he said, especially when Beijing now also has to account for three aircraft carriers and their accompanying destroyers and cruisers.

LOOK : China exhibits military muscle amid coronavirus pandemic

Tensions between the United States and China

The deployments also come at a time of mounting tensions between Washington and Beijing over the South China Sea and Taiwan.

Last week, a U.S. Navy C-40 transport plane, equivalent to a Boeing 737, flew over Taiwan en route to Thailand in what the Navy said was a routine logistics flight. The US plane was sent to Taiwan, which China considers to be part of its territory, by Taiwanese air traffic controllers, US Navy spokesman Reann Mommsen told CNN.

But Beijing called the flight "an illegal act and a serious provocation," the state news service Xinhua said.

"The flyby undermined China's sovereignty, security and development interests and violated international law and basic norms that guide international relations," the Xinhua article said, quoting Zhu Fenglian, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Council of State.

On June 4, the U.S. Navy She sent a guided missile destroyer across the Taiwan Strait, which separates the island from the Chinese mainland. And in the South China Sea, the 2 million square kilometer body of water that Beijing claims primarily as its sovereign territory, US warships have conducted multiple freedom of navigation operations this year. American B-1 bombers and surveillance planes have also been active.

Aircraft carrier

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2020-06-16

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