Chinese spy ship shadows US, Japanese, Indian naval drill in Western Pacific
Patrol comes amid tension between China and the US over Beijing’s increasingly assertive sovereignty claims in the South China Sea
A Chinese observation ship shadowed the powerful US aircraft carrier, John C. Stennis, in the Western Pacific on Wednesday, a Japanese official said, joining warships from Japan and India in drills close to waters Beijing considers its backyard.
The show of American naval power comes as Japan and the United States worry Beijing will look to extend its influence into the Western Pacific with submarines and surface vessels as it pushes its territorial claims in the neighbouring South China Sea.
Beijing views access to the Pacific as vital both as a supply line to the rest of the world’s oceans and for the projection of its naval power.
The 100,000 tonne Stennis, which carries F-18 fighter jets, joined nine other naval ships including a Japanese helicopter carrier and Indian frigates in seas off the Japanese Okinawan island chain. Submarine hunting patrol planes launched from bases in Japan are also taking part in the joint annual exercise dubbed Malabar.
The Stennis, which has been followed by the Chinese ship since patrolling in the South China Sea, will sail apart from the other ships, acting as a “decoy” to draw it away from the eight-day naval exercise, a Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force officer said, declining to be identified because he was not authorised to talk to the media.