HANOI: For the second time in two weeks, the United States has deployed two aircraft carriers to the South China Sea, the US Navy said on Friday (Jul 17), as China and the United States accuse each other of stoking tensions in the region.
The USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan carried out operations and military exercises in the waterway between Jul 4 and Jul 6, and returned to the region on Friday, according to a US Navy statement.
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"Nimitz and Reagan Carrier Strike Groups are operating in the South China Sea, wherever international law allows, to reinforce our commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, a rules based international order, and to our allies and partners in the region," Rear Admiral Jim Kirk, commander of the Nimitz, said in the statement.
The presence of the carriers was not in response to political or world events, the statement added, but relations between Washington and Beijing are currently strained over everything from the new coronavirus to trade to Hong Kong.
READ: Trump signs executive order ending preferential treatment for Hong Kong
Heated rhetoric has been on the rise in the region, where Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam challenge China's claim to about 90 per cent of the sea.
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READ: US to back nations whose South China Sea claims China violated
China held military drills in the sea earlier this month, drawing strong condemnation from both Vietnam and the Philippines, at the same time as the two carriers first crossed the waterway for what the US Navy said were preRead More – Source
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