By Thai Newsroom Reporters
THE UNITED STATES NAVY is currently deploying as many as five aircraft carriers and their escort ships in the Western Pacific Ocean which covers the disputed East China Sea and South China Sea in the wake of sustained tensions among Asian countries.
As maritime tensions have evidently remained between China and Taiwan in and around the Taiwan Strait as part of the East China Sea whilst unilateral, contradictory claims of territorial integrity have prevailed between China and other Asian countries over submerged reefs and atolls around Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, the US Seventh Fleet is reportedly deploying five out of a total of the US navy’s 11 aircraft carriers to the Western Pacific Ocean.
Chinese navy ships have regularly sailed through the tension-filled seas and intermittently conducted maritime provocations and intimidations to those of other Asian countries which are among the US treaty allies in the Indo-Pacific region.
For instance, maritime standoffs between the Chinese and Taiwanese navy ships in the Taiwan Strait and between Chinese and Philippine naval vessels have reportedly occurred over the last several months, prompting the increased deployment of US Carrier Strike Group ships in the entire Western Pacific Ocean.
The five Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, a few of which have earlier engaged in maritime exercises and joint patrols with Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force, South Korean and Philippine navies in the East China Sea and South China Sea, include USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), USS George Washington (CVN-73) and USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76).
Based on those flattops are Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters, among other combat aircraft, whilst cruisers, destroyers and other escort ships sail along in the Western Pacific Ocean.
The US Seventh Fleet is primarily designed to promote and maintain freedom of navigation for varied vessels sailing in the open seas where China’s maritime expansionism has been evidently reported.
Maritime provocations and standoffs between the Chinese and Philippine navies over mutually contradictory claims of territorial integrity have been repeatedly spotted around Scarborough Shoal and Second Thomas Shoal, among other coral reefs and atolls, in the Spratly Islands area.
In another development, a US littoral combat ship has recently sailed in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone as part of a joint maritime patrol alongside a Philippine navy ship.
USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) which can sail in shallow waters inaccessible to relatively large naval vessels has manifested operational capabilities in support of the Philippine naval forces, especially those tasked with patrol missions around islands and reefs in the South China Sea.
CAPTIONS:
Top: The USS Carl Vinson and USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike groups in formation during the Multi-Large Deck Event in the Philippine Sea in January. Photo: US Navy and published by CNN
Insert: The nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) ploughs through the Indian Ocean as aircraft on its flight deck are prepared for flight operations on March 15, 2005. Photo: US Department of Defence
Front Page: The aircraft carrier USS George Washington patrols the waters west of the Korean Peninsula on Oct. 11, 2013. Photo: US Department of Defence
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