US Navy conducts maritime exercise in South China Sea amid growing US-China tension

A US Navy aircraft carrier conducted maritime exercises in the South China Sea on Friday, August 14. According to a statement by the US Navy, the strike group that carried out the exercises were led by the USS Ronald Ragan.

The United States' flight operations and high-end maritime stability operations in the highly contested waters of the South China Sea comes amidst deteriorating relations between the United States and China.

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Exercised deemed necessary by US Navy

As per the Reuters report, Commander Joshua Fagan, Task Force 70 air operations officer onboard USS Ronald Reagan, stated that the joint exercises conducted by the US Navy are essential in ensuring the responsiveness and lethality of the joint force so as to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific.

While China has long laid claims to the South China Sea, the United States has opposed these claims and sent warships to guard the contested waters. China has staked claims to nine-tenths of the South China Sea; the resource-rich waters see approximately $3 trillion worth of trade pass through it every year.

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Several other nations in the region like Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam have also rejected China’s expansive territorial claims and put forward competing territorial claims of their own.

Besides, the US Navy military exercises come at a time of deteriorating relations between the US and China owing to several factors. The US has criticised China for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and also openly opposed the imposition of the national security law in Hong Kong.

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