Three US Navy Aircraft Carriers Deployed to Indo-Pacific Waters
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for GrandFireWizard:
Three US Navy carriers deployed to Indo-Pacific waters:
The Trump administration deployed the USS Ronald Reagan, USS Theodore Roosevelt and the USS Nimitz to the region, with each containing more than 60 aircraft.
[...] The Chinese government, which has also increased its military presence in the region, responded swiftly, warning that countermeasures" could be taken against the US.
[...] The USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Theodore Roosevelt are currently patrolling in the western Pacific, while the USS Nimitz is in the east, according to US Navy press releases.
It's an unusual move; the last deployment of US aircraft carriers in the Pacific of this size was back in 2017, when tensions with North Korea over nuclear weapons were peaking.
The US launched the deployment on June 4, after a coronavirus outbreak forced the USS Roosevelt into port in Guam in March, which saw more than 1000 of the ship's nearly 4900-member crew test positive for the virus.
[...] Carriers and carrier strike groups writ large are phenomenal symbols of American naval power. I really am pretty fired up that we've got three of them at the moment," said Rear Admiral Stephen Koehler, director of operations at Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii.
[...] By massing these aircraft carriers, the US is attempting to demonstrate to the whole region and even the world that it remains the most powerful naval force, as they could enter the South China Sea and threaten Chinese troops on the Xisha and Nansha islands (Paracel and Spratly Islands) as well as vessels passing through nearby waters, so the US could carry out its hegemonic politics," the Global Times report quoted Li Jie, a Beijing-based naval expert, as saying.
It also noted that Beijing could hold drills in response to show off its firepower.
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