Opinion | Why is the US escalating its presence in the South China Sea amid the coronavirus pandemic?

Both US air force sorties and freedom of navigation operations have risen substantially in the region in the first quarter of the year

Reasons range from an overall deterioration in US-China relations to the US’ need to show allies that its capabilities have not weakened despite the pandemic

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The guided-missile destroyer USS Barry conducts an operation in the South China Sea on April 28, sailing through waters near the Paracel Islands in a challenge to China’s claim to the area. Photo: US Navy/ AFP

Published: 10:00am, 17 May 2020Updated: 10:25am, 17 May 2020

This year, the United States has ramped up its military activities in the South China Sea, sparking debate over why, particularly when most actors have scaled down military activities because of the pandemic. Will this – and the increasing risk of a clash – be the new normal?

While the number and frequency of traditional US intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance probes is roughly the same – hundreds each year along China’s coasts – other military activities have increased. In the first quarter of the year, the US air force has flown about three times the number of sorties over the South China Sea as in any quarter of 2019.

The US navy has conducted four freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea in the same period, including two on successive days, compared with just eight for all of 2019. In April, guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill, guided-missile destroyer USS Barry and amphibious assault ship USS America “exercised” with an Australian frigate near the site of an ongoing dispute between China, Vietnam and Malaysia over exploration rights.

But in case China did not get the message, the littoral combat ship USS Montgomery and support vessel USNS Cesar Chavez subsequently operated in the same area, followed by the littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords.

A busy day on the flight deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt while transiting the South China Sea on April 10, 2018. The aircraft carrier strike group has been sidelined due to a Covid-19 outbreak among the crew. Photo: Reuters

This increased activity is probably due to a combination of factors. One theory is that the US is fed up with China across the board and the enhanced activity in such a strategic and contested sea is a signal of the fundamental deterioration in relations.

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