U.S. aircraft carriers return to South China Sea amid rising tensions

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

HANOI (Reuters) - For the second time in two weeks, the United States has deployed two aircraft carriers to the South China Sea, the U.S. Navy said on Friday, as China and the United States accuse each other of stoking tensions in the region.

The USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan carried out operations and military exercises in the contested waterway between July 4 and July 6, and returned to the region on Friday, according to a U.S. Navy statement.

"Nimitz and Reagan Carrier Strike Groups are operating in the South China Sea, wherever international law allows, to reinforce our commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, a rules based international order, and to our allies and partners in the region," Rear Admiral Jim Kirk, commander of the Nimitz, said in the statement.

The presence of the carriers was not in response to political or world events, the statement added, but relations between Washington and Beijing are currently strained over everything from the new coronavirus to trade to Hong Kong.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-aircraft-carriers-return-to-south-china-sea-amid-rising-tensions/ar-BB16QY7V?li=BBnb7Kz

[calguy]

1. Looks like trump is trying to create another crisis before the election

Trying to dictate world events to make him look more "in charge"

[Ghost Dog]

2. But the USA has not ratified the UNCLOS

International Law of the Seas...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_and_the_United_Nations_Convention_on_the_Law_of_the_Sea

[maryellen99]

3. He's going to start WW3 with China isn't he? Nt

[soryang]

4. "Freedom of navigation" in the South China Sea?

Artificial islands do not affect the boundaries of economic zones in any way. The US Navy routinely closes within 12nm of the artificial islands China has created merely as a form of harassment. There is a loophole in UNCLOS concerning artificial islands because when the convention was negotiated no one anticipated the creation of islands in international waters. So artificial islands don’t even have territorial buffers around them. US warships and aircraft can close as much as physically possible to these artificial islands. They can overfly the islands or sail right up to the beach. This is clearly something that could be negotiated to create a safe zone around the islands and their airspace. There is no significant impact on “freedom of navigation” or territorial claims to economic exploitation of the area outside the immediate limit whether it is established at 12 nm or less, a terminal control area or similar airspace could be recognizable around and above the artificial islands.


As a practical matter the overlapping national claims to economic zones are a more serious problem, that can only be negotiated among the affected nations. The US position actually reflects the interest of western corporate interests who wish to be free to exploit mining rights in South China Sea under the appropriate national flags of countries with South China Sea claims to such areas. So the FON claims of the US are to a large extent a wedge issue serving as a pretext for physical confrontation to define interests that the traditional colonial powers can exploit without Chinese interference in the 21st Century. The risk of war is obvious. Chinese military bases at Hainan are a strategic position that they will establish a perimeter around whether the US and it allies accept it or not.

The “arbitration adjudication” to which the Chinese never agreed is simply a nullity.

https://civilizationdiscontents.blogspot.com/2020/07/freedom-of-navigation-in-south-china.html

[Baclava]

5. I bet the overlords will be watching closely, I hope the Navy releases more UFO footage