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During the past few weeks, US Navy ships. USA And Air Force B-1 bombers have undertaken missions designed to send a very public message that the US Army. USA He intends to maintain a presence in the region and reassure allies.
The Pentagon accused China of exploiting the pandemic to gain military and economic advantage by expanding the areas in which it operates.
“The People’s Republic of China is trying to use the regional approach at Covid to assertively advance its own interests,” the US Navy captain said on Wednesday. USA, Michael Kafka, spokesman for the US Army Indo-Pacific Command. USA
The Pentagon says the pandemic has not damaged its capabilities
And the Pentagon made it clear that the coronavirus outbreak has not affected its ability to respond to Chinese actions.
“We have the ability and the ability to provide long-range fires anywhere, anytime and it can bring overwhelming firepower, even during the pandemic,” said Gen. Timothy Ray, commander of the Global Force Attack command. Aerial monitoring the bomber force in the area.
On Wednesday, the Navy Pacific Fleet took the unusual step of announcing that all of its submarines in the region were conducting operations at sea “in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific region amid the coronavirus pandemic.”
While the United States Army recently ended its “continued presence of bombers” on the Pacific Island of Guam for the first time since 2004, the United States Air Force has continued to send bombers to the region.
In recent weeks, the US USA B-1 bombers flew from bases in the US USA To the region on three separate occasions, including an operation over the South China Sea and the deployment of four B-1 bombers and 200 staff members from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas to Guam.
At the end of last month, the US Navy. USA It also challenged Chinese claims to the waters surrounding the Spratly and Paracel islands in the South China Sea, controversial islands that the United States has long said China is using to house weapons and military installations.
No one suggests that the United States is heading into a conflict with China, but Defense Secretary Mark Esper has continued to make Beijing a priority.
“We are concerned about the increasing opportunistic activity of the People’s Republic of China to coerce its neighbors and press their illegal maritime claims in the South China Sea, while the region and the world are focused on addressing the Covid-19 pandemic” , Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Eastburn, told CNN.
China has long criticized what it calls United States provocations and its military efforts in the South China Sea that began several years ago when China made disputed land claims.
The South China Sea is strategically crucial
The South China Sea is considered a crucial strategic location, as it is home to some of the world’s busiest shipping routes, as well as potential deposits of natural resources such as oil and gas. Parts of the sea are disputed by multiple plaintiffs, including China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Taiwan. China has built outposts on artificial islands in the disputed area, installing military and missile installations there as part of an attempt to exercise control over strategic waterways, according to US officials.
“We continue to execute a global Freedom of Navigation operations program in which United States Navy vessels safely and professionally challenge excessive maritime claims, including those in the South China Sea. We also conduct routine transits through of the Taiwan Strait to further demonstrate that the United States can fly, navigate and operate anywhere that international law allows, “Kafka said.
On Wednesday, a guided missile destroyer from the US Navy. The US, the USS McCampbell, transited the Taiwan Strait.
“The transit of the ship through the Taiwan Straits demonstrates the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Lt. Anthony Junco, spokesman for the United States Navy Seventh Fleet, told CNN.
The United States routinely navigates the Taiwan Strait, but the Chinese military views the strategic waterway that separates China from Taiwan as a priority area and often hides US ships sailing in the area.
China routinely protests the activities of the US Navy. USA In the region, he often dispatches ships or planes to monitor American ships. Following the United States’ freedom of navigation operation that challenged Chinese claims to the Paracel Islands late last month, Chinese authorities said the United States was engaging in “provocative acts” that “could easily trigger an unexpected incident.”
The United States also says that China has tried to intimidate other nations in the region.
In mid-April, China deployed a reconnaissance ship, the Haiyang Dizhi 8 along with up to 10 Coast Guard and maritime militia ships, as part of an apparent show of force in an area claimed by Malaysia and Beijing, according to two officials from defending.
The move was an apparent attempt to intimidate a Malaysian state-owned oil company that had deployed a Panamanian-flagged drilling vessel, the West Capella, to search for oil in the area.
Using a ship-led flotilla survey to harass plaintiffs in the South China Sea “is a time-tested Chinese strategy,” said an official, adding that China had used similar tactics against Vietnam.
The United States responded earlier this month by sailing twice on warships near the drill ship, a show of force intended to signal to Beijing that the US Navy. USA It can challenge any Chinese attempt to seize resources in the area.
“We are committed to a rule-based order in the South China Sea and will continue to defend freedom of the seas and the rule of law,” said Admiral John Aquilino, commander of the US Pacific Fleet. USA one of the “presence operations” near the drill ship.
“The Chinese Communist Party must end its pattern of intimidation of Southeast Asians with oil, gas and deep-sea fishing. Millions of people in the region depend on those resources for their livelihood,” he added.
China also appears to be using its military to send a message that it is capable of operating at longer distances for longer periods of time to challenge its neighbors and the United States. The United States says that China’s only operational aircraft carrier entered the South China Sea last week along with several other warships.
