The U.S. Navy has dispatched an
aircraft carrier and several ships accompanying it into the South China
Sea in the last few days, a deployment of thousands of U.S. sailors to a
region a top U.S. admiral said last week is increasingly militarized by
China. The USS John C. Stennis, the carrier, arrived in the
South China Sea on Tuesday, Navy officials said. It is accompanied by
the cruiser USS Mobile Bay and the destroyers USS Stockdale and USS
Chung-Hoon, said Navy Cmdr. Clay Doss, a spokesman for U.S. Pacific
Fleet. The ships arrived in the Western Pacific on Feb. 4 on a
deployment from the West Coast of the United States. Doss said
the carrier is carrying out a routine patrol of the South China Sea,
where China has in recent weeks moved Chinese fighter jets, military
radar and surface-to-air missiles. The Navy will continue to appear in
the South China Sea regularly, Doss said. Pacific Fleet ships spending a
combined 700 days there last year. [China testing Obama as it expands its influence in the South China Sea] Aside
from the carrier group, the Japan-based USS Antietam, a cruiser, also
is currently patrolling the South China Sea, Doss said. The USS
McCambell, a destroyer, and the USS Ashland, an amphibious dock landing
ship, completed similar patrols last week. It is not clear if or
when any of the ships will complete any freedom of navigation patrols.
The Navy has carried out two controversial ones in the South China Sea
since October, using destroyers to sail within 12 nautical miles of
artificial islands claimed by China. Beijing has claimed the surrounding
waters as its own, but the Pentagon has said it will continue to sail
through them because they have long been considered international
waterways. China has called the patrols provocative.
TVQ chuyen
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An
MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter lands on the flight deck of the
guided-missile destroyer USS Chung-Hoon last week in the Philippine Sea.
(Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Marcus L. Stanley/
Navy)
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