While China’s People Liberation Army (PLA) claimed that its forces had “expelled” the guided-missile destroyer USS Barry from the contested waters of the South China Sea (SCS) on Tuesday this week, the US Navy immediately conducted another freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) in the area.
This was intended to challenge China’s illegal claims and demonstrate that the US Navy was not “expelled,” but transits the SCS — as international law allows — whenever and wherever it chooses.
The day after the USS Barry transited the contested waters, the guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill on Wednesday “asserted navigational rights and freedoms in the Spratly Islands, consistent with international law,” said a spokesperson for the Navy’s 7th Fleet, in a statement reported by CNN.
The Spratlys, called the Nansha Islands by China, are in the southern area of the South China Sea. While several countries claim these islands, China has illegally occupied and militarized them by deploying anti-ship cruise missiles and long-range surface-to-air missiles to Chinese outposts there.
The two back-to-back missions are indicative of a new Pentagon strategy — “strategic predictability, operational unpredictability” — to keep foes on their heels, said Timothy Heath with the Rand Corp in CNN.
The USS Barry conducted a freedom of navigation mission near the Paracel Islands Tuesday, which are called the Xisha Islands by China, challenging Beijing’s claims to the waters around the islands in the northern areas of the South China Sea. Between them, the two US Navy FONOP missions had US naval vessels transiting through both the northern and southern ends of the SCS.
As part of its increasingly aggressive posture and information warfare operations, China claimed the USS Barry had illegally entered China’s Xisha territorial waters on Tuesday. According to NBC News, China’s Southern Theater army command “organized sea and air forces to track, monitor, verify, and identify the U.S. ships throughout the journey, and warned and expelled them,” said a Chinese military statement.
CNN noted that these US Navy operations are akin to the US Air Force ending its Continuous Bomber Presence (CBP) on Guam, instead deploying its B-1s, B-2s, and B-52s into the region in an unpredictable manner. These are all part of the Pentagon’s new Dynamic Force Employment (DFE) concept described in the Pentagon’s 2018 National Defense Strategy.
“Just as the bombers at Guam are no longer consistently present there, US naval forces in the South China Sea are likely to carry out operations and activities in unusual patterns that are inconsistent with past, predictable patterns,” Heath said.
As China continues its aggressive and illegal expansion in the South China Sea, buttressed by a massive military buildup and new deployments, the US — and its regional allies — must ramp up their military presence and operations in the region.
Together they must ensure that China does not establish a new strategic status quo in the SCS. While US forces should be dynamic and unpredictable, they also need to remain visible — and forward-deployed.
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HELP Expose the TRUTH About Creepy Joe Biden
Biden is a joke.trump is a real person who can achieve most all goals.dummicrats just do not care about anything other than a vote.most Republicans care about getting moral things done.quit killing babies in the womb or otherwise and quit worring about other things as a distraction from the moral truth ,religion or not.
China lose in an international court to claim much of the territory now do. China is a modern day bully in many parts of the world. A strike force should be formed and put China in their place. Why is the US giving China low duties as a third world developing country ? We have helped China become this bully, time to punch them in the nose !
They are a paper dragon. With the abysmal state of their fake economy so near to col;lapse, if they DID engage in a “real” war, they would collapse immediately. WE actually would NOT, and Xi Jinping knows this well, much as he hates it.
Ladd – I agree. People do not realize how fragile China’s economy was prior to the COVID outbreak. I believe this will make their situation even worse as many countries strike out against making any purchases of goods/ services from China.
Let’s just hope the talk is followed with action by consumers, businesses and govts alike.
NOT BUYING ANYTHING FROM China. This must be done by all countries!!!
I think they let this virus out on the world especially the US because we are cutting into their bottom line and this is the only way they can come after us and then claim it was and accident Accident my ass. they did it on purpose I think what we owe them should be automatically paid in full
Xi also showed that he does NOT understand a government such as we have AT ALL, when he tried to shift “blame” to Faucci and the Globalists and the US government when it points at Obama, and NOT TRUMP, who is the one he is trying to fight. What a petty little FOOL he shows he is! His power IS a house of cards that will collapse very quickly, that is the only power structure that the Globalists wish to allow, as they are no threat at all, so the Globalists can put them down overnight, if they should try to defy the Globalists. That is why WE are such a threat to them that they try to take us down now, and that is doomed to failure.
Never under estimate you adversary’s
Just stop shopping at Wally World, and they we be suffering! When China only has to stop selling us shoes, and we’d all be barefoot in a couple of years?
Just cut off our prescription drug chemicals, and many would die. I read an article where the “Big Pharma” buys the ingredients for less than 5% of what we pay for the prescription drugs! I think we have to “SLay the Dragon”, both in China and the U.S.
I think as we speak that Trump is trying to do that right now. He is going after the pharmaceuticals
Good for him…he needs to go after those greedy bastages…..
Somanum-bite-ches!
Great Movie for chuckles. It still makes me laugh out loud.
“Wallyworld” only carries less than 2% of Chinese made products now. The culprits are Amazon and Ebay as 70% of products sold either come directly from China or are imported from China and sold in the United States.
You obviously have dome your homework!!
The money that big business is making doing business with China is the main factor!!
I know it would be an act of war however, let’s sink one of their little rice buckets just for general purposes and let’s see how fast they piss themselves! They talk a great game but still, they are insidious and “We The People“ need to remind chim chimany who the REAL world power is!
Just sayin…
You are exactly right!!! It would seem to me that what they have tried to do with that COVID crap was an act of war in and of itself…It would seem like more countries than just us should be p****d off at them as well….
And here come the nukes…now were all dead…
Made in China nukes are not guaranteed to fly past Taiwan…just sayin
Which could mean a conflict or war between countries. Which will not help the economy pitfall. Due to the shutdowns 🙁
A. Jensen, do you realize how much debt America owes China? …war would erase that debt, and we would be much better off. We could use that money we saved to help rebuild our damaged economy…China owes us BIG TIME.
China can go pound sand.They are claiming lands, also claimed by others. I do not know, which country has historical rights to the disputed Islands. However, China building islands, out of the sea is questionable. To claim all of the South china Sea, as being in the sphere of china, is absurd. china has also said her ship should ram, or attack US Ships. This would be an act of war, to be answered in kind.
China stole Tibet.
China has run over America for years by basically going along with the ignorance at 1600 Pennsylvania for 8 years prior to Trump. The Barry/Soros members just said give them everything while we destroy America. Michael and Barry stole more from USA than any communist that lived at said address. The most corruption ever in US history. The plane loads of cash he split with Iran.
China is just laughing at what they got away with. This is China/Soros/ and Democrats virus that they lost control of. The Dems will be exposed more each day in the Wuhan project that’s why the media rats are covering the Dems and their own lives. All of this goes back to the 8 gangsters that thought a coup was possible and they were smarter that 65 MILLION Americans. Love to see them caught!!!
Barry Brown….you sir, are spot on with what you said…..
How about the following. In just a few words, tell China to PISS OFF.
And we are all still waiting for Barr to make the finally act of Real American Justice, papers served to those 8 clowns from
One World Order. Also just wondering who’s the real ring leader
on all this play. I know now that the minion players are all in the Democratic party, desperately all the moves they turn ends up in road blocks. Thank God he’s hears our prayers and save this beautiful country from spiral downfall. Go MAGA !!!!!
We can pray and we can hope for justice…I am afraid that our government has been infiltrated with more Deep State wackos than we can imagine…God help us if He hasn’t turned His back on the majority of idiots who have been trying for years to get Him out of this country any way they can. The day that dang Muslim who is no more a legal citizen of this country than Adolph Hitler was, was elected president, not once but twice???? I felt like we were doomed…..and that maybe God decided to just let us be…..
The Trump Way is the Be Best Way – Unpredictability.
Which is how that viciously crazy General McCrystal will find Trump Supporters, coming soon to his neighborhood drive-in where he plots against Trump Supporters.
China is in coo hoots with our democRATS to get Trump. China does not like taxes Trump has put on their products and democRATS have been after Trump before 2016. They do not want our people to go back to work or this disaster to end for fear they can not stop him in 2020. Never let a good disaster go to waist. Anything and everything to make Trump look bad. Sorry, left out fake news. They are a joke.
The libs just want to keep you home by offering you more money ($2000 a month)so that the economy could go down a very deep shit hole! And create a great depression the likes you never seen. Don’t be fooled! You can’t trust these evil liberal Commie Demoncrats!
Bella Pelosi, better known as Dracula. Sneaked in a 1 billion Dollar funding for Plan Parenthood (The abortion factory) and other things that have nothing to do with the Coronavirus bill. Evil and Devious indeed! Never let a crisis go to waste is one of the Demoncrat 10 Satanic Commandments.
Wuhan Virus Bioweapon AKA: China Virus, Coronavirus weaponized by China and their Globalist treasonous Godless demoncratic Commie party and cohorts Soros the MSM fake media, academia, Hollywood, Millennials.RINOs..to crash the greatest US economy ever! And to take down the greatest president ever, President Trump!! Keep up the great work President Trump! 2020 and beyond! From the Patriots of a Commie free America!
NR I like your honest informed straight forward approach!!
Navy seals have a home on these islands, China can’t find them, but they are there, China goose is cooked and ready to be thrown out to sea. Guess who started Bio-warfare back up in the states .