US and China deploy aircraft carriers in the South China Sea as Philippines prepares for joint exercises

US and China deploy aircraft carriers in the South China Sea as Philippines prepares for joint exercises

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Meanwhile, the U.S. and the Philippines were preparing for joint exercises when the U.S. Secretary of Defense suggested ways to deepen military cooperation between Washington and Manila after China massacred vessels in disputed waters.

China’s state-run Global Times said on Sunday that the country’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, had steamed into the South China Sea on Saturday after completing a week of naval exercises around Taiwan. There was no official announcement of the position of the Liaoning, but the Chinese tabloid quoted satellite images first reported by the American media The War Zone.

The report from Liaoning in the South China Sea came after an expeditionary strike group of the US Navy, in front of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and the amphibious attack ship USS Makin Island, did exercises in the South China Sea a day earlier . The two flat warships were accompanied by a cruiser, destroyers and smaller amphibious ships.

The ships also carried hundreds of naval ground forces from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit as well as their support helicopters and F-35 fighter jets.

“This expeditionary force fully demonstrates that we maintain a combat-credible force, capable of responding to any eventuality, repelling aggression, and providing regional security and stability in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific. , “said U.S. Navy Captain Stewart Bateshansky. , commodore, Amphibious Squadron 3, said in a statement.

Global Times quoted a Chinese military expert, Wei Dongxu, as saying the US naval exercises were a provocation.

Exercises by the Chinese carrier “could establish wider maritime defense positions, protect China’s coastal regions and curb US military activity,” Wei said.

But a US analyst described the presence of Liaoning in the South China Sea as normal for spring when weather conditions are conducive to training. “The Liaoning are going there (to practice) air defense and live fire training there this time of year,” said Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the Joint Intelligence Center of the U.S. Pacific Command.

US-Philippines joint exercises

On Monday, more than 1,700 U.S. and Philippine troops began two weeks of military training, Reuters reported, citing Philippine military chief Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana.

The report will focus on testing the willingness of US and Philippine troops to respond to events such as extremist attacks and natural disasters.

This comes after the US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, on Sunday suggested to his counterpart in Manila, Delfin Lorenzana, ways to deepen ties between the US and Philippine military forces, according to a statement from the Pentagon.

The proposals included ways to raise awareness of the “threat situation in the South China Sea” and come after “the recent mass of maritime military vessels off the Whitsun Reef” in the Philippines’ exclusive economic area in the Spratly Islands statement said.

Washington and Manila are bound by a mutual defense treaty, which officials say could play in the event of any Chinese military action against Philippine government ships around Whitsun Reef.

Philippine Foreign Minister Teodoro Locsin Jr. On Saturday, he tweeted that he would work to cause any attack on Philippine civilian vessels mutual defense assistance, CNN Philippines reported.

Locsin’s comments come after a Philippine news crew said last week that their chartered boat had been chased by Chinese missile boats as it approached a disputed shift in the Spratly chain, according to the CNN report from the Philippines.

China claims almost all of the 1.3 million square miles of South China Sea as its sovereign territory, which opposes the demands of the Philippines and other nations. In recent years, Beijing has transformed controversial features in the region into man-made islands, complete with military strongholds.

Beijing is accusing Washington and other foreign navies of tension in the region by sending in warships such as the current expeditionary group led by transporter Roosevelt.

Tension in Taiwan

Tensions extend to the northeastern sides of the South China Sea, where the island of Taiwan sits. Beijing claims the democratic, self-governing island of nearly 24 million people as its territory, even though the two parties have been ruled separately for more than seven decades.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has promised that Beijing will never allow Taiwan to become formally independent and has refused to rule out the use of force, if necessary, to unite the island with the mainland.

Before the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning sailed to the South China Sea over the weekend, the Chinese state media had been holding a military muscle in Taiwan for a week. At one point, the People’s Liberation Army flanked Taiwan, with the Liaoning and its escorts operating in the Pacific in the east and departing PLA warplanes in the west of Taiwan’s self-proclaimed air defense zone.

Analysts said the exercises were a warning to Taipei and Washington that Beijing would not end any steps toward Taiwan’s independence, and were prepared to take military action to prevent that from happening.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that Washington was committed to defending Taiwan.

“What is of real concern to us is increasingly aggressive action by the government in Beijing targeting Taiwan,” Blinken said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“We have a serious commitment to Taiwan’s self-defense. We have a serious commitment to peace and security in the Western Pacific. And in that context, it would be a serious mistake for anyone to violate the status quo. to try to change., ‘Blinken said.

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