US sent amphibious assault ship to South China Sea and conducted live-fire exercises

The United States has increased its military presence in the South China Sea, in the middle of Beijing’s increasingly aggressive maneuvers in this strategic area of ​​the Indo-Pacific.

Between Wednesday evening and early Thursday morning, the multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island and the amphibious transport dock USS San Diego sailed through the Strait of Malacca, as shown by satellite data obtained by the South China Sea Strategic Location Research Initiative (SCSPI), a Beijing-based organization.

The sailors of the USS Makin Island they also executed “A training exercise with live fire”the US Indo-Pacific Command tweeted Thursday, along with a hashtag calling for a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”

The presence of the amphibious ship is recorded after a group of aircraft carriers led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt conducted exercises with Malaysia on Tuesday and Wednesday.

According to the SCSPI, the guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin it was also operating in the East China Sea on Saturday; likewise, the American destroyer USS John McCain it crossed the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday.

In response, China has deployed its Liaoning aircraft carrier from the Miyako Strait off southwestern Japan for “scheduled exercises” near Taiwan.

Deployment occurs at times when Beijing is showing less and less qualms about revealing its intention to capture most of the South China Sea, a strategic seaway where it is believed that there are valuable oil and gas deposits, and which is also claimed by Taiwan, Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Japan Yes Vietnam. An international tribunal ruled in 2016 that the Chinese claim has no legal basis.

The maneuvers are of particular concern to Taiwan, that he separated from China at the end of a civil war in 1949 and lives under the constant threat of an invasion by the mainland government, whose leaders have promised to take him one day. Wednesday, The island reported that 15 other planes from the mainland had entered its air defense zone.

Concern has also grown in the Philippines in recent days.200 Chinese ships were first spotted on March 7 on the Pentecostal Reef, some 200 miles west of Palawan Island, although many have since dispersed across the Spratly Islands. China has rejected weeks of calls from the Philippines to remove the ships, which, according to Manila, entered its exclusive economic zone illegally.

Faced with increasingly aggressive maneuvers, The United States reminded Beijing on Wednesday of Washington’s obligations to its allies.

“An armed attack on the Philippine armed forces, public ships or aircraft in the Pacific, including the South China Sea, will trigger our obligations under the Mutual Defense Treaty between the United States and the Philippines.” the State Department spokesman told reporters, Ned Price.

“We share the concern of our Filipino allies over the continued concentration of maritime militias from the People’s Republic of China near Whitsun Reef,” Price said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

Washington also sent a message of support to Taiwan after the new Chinese overflight.

Price expressed his “concern” over the Chinese moves, saying: “The United States retains the ability to resist any use of force or other forms of coercion that endanger the security or the social or economic system of the Taiwanese people.”

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