US sends warships through South China Sea in latest transit

The United States has sent its USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier strike group into the disputed South China Sea for a second time this year amid rising tensions in the region.

The strike group sailed into the waters on Friday after nearly three months in the Arabian Sea, where it was supporting the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the US Navy said in a statement.

It will conduct flight operations, maritime strike operations, anti-submarine operations and tactical training while in the South China Sea, the statement said.

“We look forward to leveraging our recent out-of-area experience as we return to the South China Sea and our rapidly growing alliances and partnerships dedicated to the Indo-Pacific,” said Rear Admiral Will Pennington, commander of Carrier Strike Group 5.

The strike group is based at Yokosuka in Japan.

Commander of the USS Ronald Reagan, Captain Fred Goldhammer, said that as the mission continued in the South China Sea, “we remain vigilant and ready to answer the call”.

It is the warships’ second operation in the region this year. In July they conducted drills with another aircraft carrier group, the USS Nimitz, “in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific”. The move angered China, which claims almost all of the South China Sea as its territory and whose navy was carrying out its own exercises near the contested Paracel Islands at the time.

This time, the USS Ronald Reagan entered the waterway via the Strait of Malacca on Friday, it was seen northwest of the Spratly Islands on Sunday, and on Monday was sailing through Verde Island Passage to the Philippine Sea, according to the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative (SCSPI), a think tank in Beijing.

“With USS Carl Vinson and HMS Queen Elizabeth, now we have three ‘US+UK’ aircraft carriers in the Western Pacific,” the SCSPI said in a tweet on Friday.

The USS Carl Vinson strike group entered the South China Sea in early September, while the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier also sailed through the waters before arriving in Japan for a port call.

The latest transit through the South China Sea comes as tensions have been mounting, with China and the US – as well as its allies including Britain, France and Germany – increasing their military presence in the region. Beijing has also been angered by the new Aukus security alliance between the US, Britain and Australia under which Australia will be equipped with nuclear-powered submarines, a move seen as an attempt to counter China.

Meanwhile, China’s military has been carrying out training in the South China Sea over the weekend. The Sanya Maritime Safety Administration announced a no-go zone in waters off Hainan on Saturday and Sunday, and the Guangdong Maritime Safety Administration also cordoned off areas where live-fire drills would be conducted in the South China Sea from Friday to Monday.