Valencia, adjunct senior scholar at China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies (NISCSS), reflecting Chinese concerns.Īircraft from the United Kingdom’s carrier strike group led by HMS Queen Elizabeth, and U.S. The main purpose of the show of force then, same as now, was to send a message to Beijing – and some see that as provocative. deployed two carrier groups led by the USS Nimitz and the now-decommissioned USS Independence. The RSIS expert Bitzinger was likening the show of force to March 1996, when America deployed two aircraft carriers in response to China testing missiles in seas near Taiwan in the run-up to an election there – sending a warning to self-governing island not to declare independence.Īt the time, observers touted it as the biggest display of military power in Asia since the Vietnam War. Ministry of Defence on Tuesday said that over the next two weeks the Queen Elizabeth “will navigate the South China Sea with ships and aircraft from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States” and take part in a large-scale joint maritime exercise. The Carl Vinson has since left for Japan.Ī statement from the U.K. Carrier Strike Group 21 (CSG21) led by the HMS Queen Elizabeth.Ī day later the SCS Probing Initiative, a Chinese research network, alerted that the USS Carl Vinson and HMS Queen Elizabeth had crossed the Bashi Channel into the South China Sea - the second time for both of the aircraft carriers since July. “Half a million tons of sea power projection from six nations with an equally impressive air wing,” was how it was described by Commodore Steve Moorhouse, commander of the U.K. Images taken at the scene show the impressive armada sailing in the sun, with an arrow-like formation of fighter jets overhead.
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