ABOARD THE USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (South China Sea): As fighter jets streaked overhead, a US aircraft carrier sailed through the South China Sea in the latest display of America’s military might after China built a string of islands with military facilities to assert its claims in the strategic waters, sparking regional alarm.
The US Navy flew a small group of Philippine generals, officials and journalists to the USS Theodore Roosevelt, where fighter jets landed and took off by catapult with thunderous blasts.
The nuclear-powered carrier, and its 65 supersonic F18 jets, spy planes and helicopters, was en route to Manila.
Recent US deployments of aircraft carriers, backed by destroyers, to perform freedom of navigation exercises to Beijing’s territorial claims are reassuring allies but also prompting concerns with China’s own show of force in the busy waterway.
“It’s a showcase of the capability of the US armed forces not only by sea but also by air,” Philippine army Lt Gen Rolando Bautista said after joining a tour of the 88,000-tonne carrier.
At least twice this year, the US Navy has deployed destroyers in freedom of navigation sail-bys near Chinese-occupied Scarborough Shoal, which Beijing wrestled from the Philippines in 2012, and Manila-claimed Mischief Reef, which Chinese forces occupied in 1995.
Another US carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, patrolled the contested waters last month, taking part in anti-submarine drills in the South China Sea with Japanese forces and visiting Vietnam with its 5,000-strong crew, the largest such US military presence there since the Vietnam War ended in 1975. — AP
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