US and China deploy aircraft carriers to 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, as the U.S. defense secretary proposed ways to deepen military cooperation between Washington and Manila after China massed ships in disputed waters.

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

Liaoning’s arrival in the South China Sea came after a U.S. Navy expeditionary attack group, led by the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and the amphibious attack ship USS Makin Island, conducted exercises at sea. from South China a day earlier. The two flat warships were joined 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 attack force fully demonstrates that we maintain a credible force in combat, capable of responding to any contingency, deterring aggression and providing regional security and stability in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the captain of the U.S. Navy Stewart Bateshansky, Commodore, Amphibious Squadron 3, said in a statement.

The Global Times quoted a Chinese military expert, Wei Dongxu, as saying that the U.S. Navy exercises were a provocation.

The Chinese company’s exercises “can establish broader maritime defensive positions, safeguard China’s coastal regions, and keep U.S. military activities under control,” the report said, citing Wei.

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

US-Philippines joint exercises

On Monday, more than 1,700 U.S. and Filipino troops began two weeks of military exercises, Reuters reported, citing Philippine military chief lieutenant General Cirilito Sobejana.

The exercises will focus on testing the availability of U.S. and Philippine troops to respond to events such as extremist attacks and natural disasters, according to the report.

They come after U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Sunday proposed to his Manila counterpart Delfin Lorenzana ways to deepen ties between the U.S. and Philippine military, according to a Pentagon statement.

The proposals included ways to “improve situational awareness of the threats in the South China Sea” and come after “the recent massification of maritime militia ships from the People’s Republic of China in Whitsun Reef,” in the economic zone exclusive to the Philippines in the Spratly Islands, statement.

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

Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Saturday, in a tweet, he will work to ensure that any attack on Philippine civilian vessels triggers mutual defense assistance, CNN Philippines reported.

Locsin’s comments came after a Filipino crew reported last week that his chartered boat was being chased by Chinese missile ships as it approached a disputed bank on Spratly, according to a CNN Philippines report.

China claims almost every 1.3 million square kilometers of the South China Sea as its sovereign territory, facing the claims of the Philippines and other nations. In recent years, Beijing has turned the disputed features of the region into artificial islands, with military fortifications.

Beijing accuses Washington and other foreign armies of causing tensions in the region by sending warships as the current expeditionary group led by carrier Roosevelt.

Taiwan tensions

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

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

Before moving to the South China Sea over the weekend, Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning had been showing military muscle around Taiwan for a week, according to Chinese state media. At one point, the People’s Liberation Army flanked Taiwan, with Liaoning and its escorts operating in the Pacific Ocean to the east and PLA warplanes raiding the identification zone. of self-declared air defense from Taiwan to the west.

Analysts said the exercises were a warning to Taipei and Washington that Beijing would not address any movement for Taiwanese independence and was willing to act militarily to prevent this from happening.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that Washington remains committed to defending Taiwan.

“What really worries us is the increasingly aggressive actions of the Beijing government targeting Taiwan,” Blinken told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“We have a serious commitment to Taiwan being able to defend itself. We have a serious commitment to peace and security in the Western Pacific. And in this context, it would be a grave mistake for anyone to try to change this status quo by force,” Blinken said. .

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