Sina Delenda Est

US carrier sails in disputed sea as China shows own force
By Jim Gomez 

Rear Admiral Steve Koehler, commander CSG-9 of the U.S. aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, briefs top Philippine generals Tuesday, April 10,2018 in international waters off South China Sea. The aircraft carrier CVN-71 is sailing through the disputed South China Sea in the latest display of America’s military might after China built a string of islands with military facilities in the strategic sea it claims almost in its entirety. 

ABOARD THE USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT, South China Sea — — As fighter jets streaked overhead, a U.S. aircraft carrier sailed through the South China Sea on Tuesday 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. armed forces not only by sea but also by air,” Philippine army Lt. Gen. Rolando Bautista said after joining a tour of the 97,000-ton carrier.
“The Americans are our friends. In one way or another, they can help us to deter any threat,” Bautista said, adding that the American military presence helps secure vulnerable Philippine waters.
At least twice this year, the U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. military presence there since the Vietnam War ended in 1975.
China has protested those moves, calling it U.S. meddling in an Asian conflict, and renewed warnings to Washington to stay away. 

Beijing has also reportedly been holding large-scale naval exercises in the area featuring its only operating aircraft carrier, while its air force says it recently sent some of its most advanced fighters and bombers for “joint combat patrols” over the sea.
Those included H-6K long-range strategic bombers that carry DH-20 long-range land-attack cruise missiles, giving them the ability to hit targets as far away as Australia, along with Russian-made Su-35 fighters.
“What we see now is a show of force and a counter show of force in the South China Sea,” said Roilo Golez, a former Philippine national security adviser and congressman.
Washington’s superior naval power could serve as deterrence to Chinese aggression, Golez said.
Despite occasional exchanges of rhetoric, U.S. Rear Admiral Steve Koehler told reporters on board the Roosevelt that it has been smooth sailing so far, with U.S., Chinese and other forces engaging each other professionally.
“I haven’t seen any dangerous interaction,” Koehler said, adding that problems could be avoided “if all the navies are operating in accordance with the international norm and law.”
Washington stakes no claims in the territorial disputes but has declared that their peaceful resolution and the maintenance of freedom of navigation are in its national interest.
American officials have said U.S. Navy ships will continue sailing close to Chinese-occupied areas without prior notice, placing Washington in a continuing collision course with China’s "interests".

China Dismissive of US Carrier Visit to Vietnam

Chinese narrative belies anxiety over increasing engagement in South China Sea.
By Steven Stashwick

Last week, the U.S. aircraft carrier Carl Vinson pulled into Vietnam’s port of Danang, the first visit by a U.S. aircraft carrier since the end of the two countries’ conflict in 1975. 

The historic visit is a milestone in deepening military ties between the former adversaries as China works to solidify its claims and authority in the South China Sea. 

While China tried alternately to downplay or dismiss the visit, it must contend with a rising tide of external engagement and balancing in the region motivated by unease over its long-term intentions.
An editorial in the Global Times, a tabloid published by China’s official People’s Daily newspaper, sought to dismiss the visit, claiming that the Vinson’s visit couldn’t “stir up troubles” in the South China Sea and insisting that enhanced military exchanges between the two former adversaries won’t produce any “special tools” to direct against China.
Another editorial from the South China Morning Post dismissed the United States’ pursuit of a security relationship with Vietnam entirely, calling it a flawed strategy that creates unnecessary tensions by “promoting threats that do not exist.”

The overt dismissiveness in both articles instead suggests acute Chinese anxiety over regional cooperation and the increasing presence of extra-regional navies in the South China Sea.
Meanwhile, China’s Ministry of Foreign affairs tried to downplay the Carl Vinson’s visit, saying that “We have no problem with relevant countries developing normal relations and conducting normal cooperation,” and merely cautioning that it hoped that cooperation supported regional peace and stability. 

But China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, implied to reporters during the National People’s Congress in Beijing last week that the Vinson’s visit was “the greatest disturbance to the peace and stability in the South China Sea” and that external countries – meaning principally the United States – wanted to “stir up trouble” in the region.
By hosting the carrier, Vietnam communicated that “peace and stability” in the region isn’t China’s alone to define to its own advantage. 

While the port visit is largely symbolic, the two countries’ burgeoning military relationship is increasingly concrete, though experts are quick to point out that Vietnam’s diplomatic “three no’s” (no foreign bases, no alliances, no third-party involvement) mean it is unlikely to enter into a formal alliance or partnership with the United States. 

Nevertheless, U.S. warships began conducting voyage repairs in Cam Ranh Bay, a critical logistics hub for the United States during the Vietnam war, in 2016, and U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis’ official visit this past January augurs even more exchanges and cooperation in the future.
Nor does the United States believe Vietnam is alone in its unease with China’s expanded activity in the region. 

While the USS Carl Vinson was in-port at Danang, the commander of the Japan-based U.S. Seventh Fleet, Vice Admiral Phillip Sawyer spoke to reporters about how it was uncertainty about China’s intentions in the region that was the primary driver of potential instability. 

 “It’s not quite clear what’s going to happen down there [in China’s South China Sea bases], and I think that angst and that lack of transparency is potentially disruptive to the security and stability of the region. And that causes concern.”
The United States’ response to that concern has been to maintain a robust presence in the South China Sea so far in 2018. 

It apparently conducted a Freedom of Navigation Operation in the vicinity of the Chinese-claimed Scarborough Shoal in January, where an international arbitration court ruled that China had no historical rights and had violated the Philippines’ rights within its own Exclusive Economic Zone. 

In the broader western Pacific, the first squadron of U.S. Marine Corps F-35B aircraft have deployed on the USS Wasp. 

The Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Robert Neller, says integrating the advanced fighter into the fleet is part of the Marines’ contribution to establishing sea control for U.S. forces, and denying it to adversaries.
And increasingly, the United States is not alone. 

Following its historic port visit in Danang, the Carl Vinson began conducting advanced anti-submarine and air-defense exercises in the South China Sea with one of Japan’s largest warships. 

Both Japan and France has been cultivating closer military ties and cooperation with the Philippines. Australia is increasing its naval presence in the region out of concern over China’s intentions. 

This week a British frigate will patrol the South China Sea and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has pledged that the first deployment of Britain’s new supercarrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, will include patrols in the region.
China can continue to insist that it is committed to peace and stability in the South China Sea, but few countries appear willing to accept its assurances.

China Threat

US navy carrier's Vietnam visit signals closer ties amid China tensions
By Bennett Murray in Da Nang

A child wears a US navy hat during a visit by sailors to Da Nang SOS Children’s Village. 

Thousands of sailors from a US navy carrier and two escort vessels have taken part in a charm offensive while on a port call to the Vietnamese coastal city of Da Nang, in the largest US troop presence in the country since the war ended in 1975.
In a classroom on the outskirts of the city, uniformed navy sailors played rock and country classics for dozens of enthralled children who had disabilities that have been blamed on the Agent Orange sprayed by the US military during the war. 

After the performance, more sailors arrived for some arts and crafts.
Cooks from the USS Carl Vinson visited local restaurants to learn Vietnamese recipes, and the US naval band performed songs from the war-era Vietnamese composer Trinh Cong Son.
Dignitaries from both the US navy and the Vietnamese government lauded the visit as a sign of budding friendship between the two former foes, but looming over the fun, lighthearted atmosphere of the week was the question of China. 

Although geopolitical issues were largely left unspoken, analysts said the trip largely stemmed from anxieties over a millennia-old rivalry between Vietnam and its northern neighbour.
Nguyen Chi Tuyen, a dissident blogger from Hanoi also known by his pen name Anh Chi, said the Vietnamese people welcomed US military engagement with “our hearts and minds”.
He said opposition to China was deeply embedded in Vietnam’s national identity, with the South China Sea dispute only the most recent in a line of conflicts stretching back to China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, in the third century BC.
China claims almost all the South China Sea, including waters internationally recognised as Vietnam’s. 

The two countries fought a series of bloody skirmishes over the sea’s islands in the 1970s and 80s, with the last occurring in 1988.
Tuyen is no fan Vietnam’s single-party communist state, which bans dissent. 

He has been arrested several times and was once beaten by thugs working for the secret police.
But he said most anti-government activists supported the Carl Vinson’s arrival. 

They also want American arms sales to Vietnam, which were legalised in 2016 when Barack Obama lifted a weapons embargo that had been in place since the war.
Tuyen said that shortly before the embargo was lifted, Senator John McCain, a longtime advocate of close bilateral ties, asked him and three other dissidents at a private meeting in Hanoi whether the move would damage the human rights situation in Vietnam. 

All four told McCain the US should go through with sales, said Tuyen.
“We know about the threat that if the US government lifts the ban, they can use them against the activists and the people,” he said. 

“But we think it is much more important than our own security that if the US government lifts the ban, Vietnam … can use the weapons to defend our own country.”
Carl Thayer, an emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales and an expert on south-east Asia, said the Vietnamese government considered the Carl Vinson’s docking to be a balancing act between powers.
“The visit of the USS Carl Vinson does not signal that Vietnam is moving into the US orbit to oppose China. It signals that as trust has developed between Vietnam and the United States, the leaders in Hanoi are comfortable with a step up in naval engagement with the United States,” he said.
But Le Dang Doanh, a former economic adviser to the government and a Communist party member, said Hanoi felt its hand was being forced. 

“It is Beijing that has pushed Vietnam closer to the US more than Washington has come closer to Vietnam.”
He said he was anxious about whether the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, who recently changed China’s constitution to abolish term limits, would use force against Vietnam as a show of strength. China’s former leader Deng Xiaoping ordered the 1979 invasion of Vietnam shortly after consolidating power, Doanh pointed out.
“I don’t know how Xi Jinping will demonstrate his power, we need to pay high attention,” he said.
Would Vietnam would ever abandon its non-alignment policy and become a US ally? 

“It’s not sure [if there could be an alliance], but it’s certainly not their last visit,” said Doanh.

Chinese Expansionism

China unhappy over US carrier visit to VietnamBy CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
A Vietnamese passenger boat sails past U.S aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson as it docks in Danang bay, Vietnam on Monday, March 5, 2018. For the first time since the Vietnam War, a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier is paying a visit to a Vietnamese port, seeking to bolster both countries' efforts to stem expansionism by China in the South China Sea. 

Beijing is unhappy with the first visit by a U.S. aircraft carrier to a Vietnamese port since the Vietnam War and is monitoring developments, a Communist Party newspaper said Wednesday.
However, the Global Times said the USS Carl Vinson's visit was unlikely to alter the balance of power in the South China Sea, which China claims virtually in its entirety and has been fortifying with military structures on man-made islands.
"China's vigilance and unhappiness are inevitable, but we don't think that the USS Carl Vinson's Vietnam trip can stir up troubles in the South China Sea," the paper known for its hard-line nationalist views said in an editorial.
The visit "will not generate any special tools to pressure China," while the U.S. sending warships to the South China Sea will "only waste money," the paper said.
Vietnam and China have extensive overlapping claims to islands and resources in the sea, and U.S. officials say the port call is a sign of the U.S. commitment to the region and U.S.-Vietnam ties.
"Carl Vinson being here, me being here, this is about Vietnam. This is about our relationship with Vietnam, both from a military relationship and from a comprehensive partnership relationship," Vice Adm. Phillip Sawyer, commander of the U.S. 7th Fleet, told reporters in a conference call Tuesday from the Vietnamese port of Da Nang, where the ship docked Monday.
Sawyer and other officials have not linked the ship's visit to China's activities in the South China Sea, but he did note Washington's concerns over China's moves to put teeth behind its territorial claims and unanswered questions about China's purpose in its rapid military expansion and upgrading.
"My view on that is both those, land reclamation and the militarization, cause angst within the region. And the angst that it causes is really because of lack of transparency," Sawyer said.
"It's not quite clear what's going to happen down there. And I think that angst and that lack of transparency is potentially disruptive to the security and stability of the region. And that, that causes concern," he said.
The visit by the USS Carl Vinson with more than 5,000 crewmembers marks the largest U.S. military presence in Vietnam since the Southeast Asian nation was unified under Communist leadership after the war ended in 1975.
Accompanied by a cruiser and a destroyer, the ship is visiting as China completes work on air bases, radar stations and other infrastructure that could prove key in a military conflict in the Paracel islands and seven artificial islands in the Spratlys in maritime territory also claimed by Vietnam.
The ship's mission includes technical exchanges, sports matches and visits to an orphanage and a center for victims of Agent Orange, a toxic defoliant sprayed by U.S. forces to deny cover for Communist fighters during the war. 

It marks a fine-tuning, rather than a turning point, in relations. 

The U.S. Navy has staged activities in Vietnam for its Pacific Partnership humanitarian and civic missions in nine of the past 12 years.
Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan also claim waters and islands in the South China Sea that China says belong to it.

Chinese Peril

A U.S. Aircraft Carrier's Historic Vietnam Port Call Sends a Message to China
By TRAN VAN MINH

DANANG, Vietnam — For the first time since the Vietnam War, a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier is paying a visit to a Vietnamese port, seeking to bolster both countries’ efforts to stem expansionism by China in the South China Sea.
Monday’s visit by the USS Carl Vinson, accompanied by a cruiser and a destroyer, brings more than 6,000 crew members to the central coastal city of Danang, the largest such U.S. military presence in Vietnam since the Southeast Asian nation was unified under Communist leadership after the war ended in 1975.
The visit comes at a time when China is increasing its military buildup in the Paracel islands and seven artificial islands in the Spratlys in maritime territory also claimed by Vietnam. 

China claims most of the South China Sea and has challenged traditional U.S. naval supremacy in the western Pacific.
“The visit of aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson to Vietnam signifies an increased level of trust between the two former enemies, a strengthened defense relationship between them, and reflects America’s continued naval engagement with the region,” said Le Hong Hiep, a research fellow at the Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.
The ships’ mission — a “friendship” visit that includes technical exchanges, sports matches and other community activities, according to Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang — marks a fine-tuning, rather than a turning point in relations. 

The U.S. Navy has staged activities in Vietnam for its Pacific Partnership humanitarian and civic missions in nine of the past 12 years.
Hang said the visit would “continue to promote bilateral relations within the framework of the two countries’ comprehensive partnership and contribute to maintaining peace, stability, security, cooperation and development in the region.”
The United States normalized relations with Vietnam in 1995 and lifted an arms embargo in 2016, and the two former adversaries have steadily improved bilateral relations in all areas, including trade, investment and security.
The inclusion in this week’s visit of an aircraft carrier — a more than 100,000-ton manifestation of U.S. global military projection — reaffirms closer relations as Beijing flexes it political, economic and military muscle in Southeast Asia, and Washington seeks to re-establish its influence.
“Although the visit is mainly symbolic and would not be able to change China’s behavior, especially in the South China Sea, it is still necessary in conveying the message that the U.S. will be there to stay,” Hiep said.
Separately from this week’s mission, U.S. officials have said American warships continue sailing without prior notice close to China-occupied islands and atolls, an aggressive way of signaling to Beijing that it does not recognize its sovereignty over those areas.
Hiep said that the Carl Vinson’s visit is likely to irritate China, but that Beijing will not take it too seriously.
“They understand well the strategic rationale behind the rapprochement between Vietnam and the U.S., which was largely driven by China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea,” he said. “However, China also knows that Vietnam is unlikely to side with the U.S. militarily to challenge China.”
Vietnam, while traditionally wary of its huge northern neighbor, shares China’s system of single-party rule and intolerance for political dissent.
Economic relations with the United States in recent years have served as a counterbalance to Vietnam’s political affinity with China.
“The United States now is a very important trading partner with Vietnam and it is the most important destination of Vietnam’s exports,” said Joseph Cheng, a professor of political science at the City University of Hong Kong. 

“In terms of security, both countries certainly share substantial common interest in the containment of China in view of the territorial dispute between China and Vietnam.”
“However, it seems that Vietnam does not intend to become an ally of the United States. It is basically a kind of hedging strategy, a kind of balance of power strategy,” he said.
The first U.S. Marines arrived in Danang in 1965, marking the beginning of large-scale American involvement in the war, which ended in 1975 with the communist North’s victory, reunifying the country. 

Some 58,000 American soldiers and an estimated 3 million Vietnamese were killed in the war.
Danang, which was a major U.S. military base during the war, is now Vietnam’s third-largest city and is in the midst of a construction boom as dozens of resorts and hotels pop up along its scenic coastline.
Several Danang residents said Monday that they welcomed the Navy’s visit.
“During the war, I was scared when I saw American soldiers,” said Tran Thi Luyen, 55, who runs a small coffee shop in the city. 

“Now the aircraft carrier comes with a complete different mission, a mission of peace and promoting economic and military cooperation between the two countries.”
Huynh Quang Nguyen, a taxi driver, echoed the sentiment.
“I’m very happy and excited with the carrier’s visit,” he said. 

“Increased cooperation between the two countries in economic, diplomatic and military areas would serve as a counterbalance to Beijing’s expansionism.”

China Threat

Why a First US Aircraft Carrier Vietnam Visit Matters
By Prashanth Parameswaran

In the next few days, a U.S. aircraft carrier will make a port call in Vietnam’s coastal city of Danang for the first time since the end of the Vietnam War. 

Though the move has long been in the works and is just a single engagement, it nonetheless bears noting given its significance for U.S.-Vietnam ties, U.S. defense policy, as well as the region more broadly.
The idea of a U.S. aircraft carrier visit to Vietnam has been in the works since last year and first surfaced publicly in the context of the meeting between Vietnam’s Defense Minister Ngo Xuan Lich and U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in August 2017 (See: “US-Vietnam Defense Relations Under Trump Get A Boost With First Aircraft Carrier Visit”). 

Both sides have since been finalized details over several subsequent meetings and have been keeping specifics close to the chest. 

Before the sensationalist headlines tied to the expected visit of the USS Carl Vinson roll in, it is important to understand the broader significance of the visit on three fronts.
First, it is yet another in a series of boosts within the context of the U.S.-Vietnam bilateral defense ties which, for all their limits, have been on the uptick over the past few years as I’ve observed repeatedly (See: “US-Vietnam Defense Ties: Problems and Prospects”). 

Though several other U.S. vessels have already visited Vietnam and both sides continue to work to expand efforts in this realm under a Trump presidency, an aircraft carrier is obviously a much bigger visible symbol of demonstration of American presence within the context of the relationship.
Within that context, the visit should be understood as not just a one-off event but part of a gradual integration of U.S. aircraft carriers in the relationship. 

Last October, Vietnam Deputy Defense Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh became the highest ranking Vietnamese official to embark on a U.S. aircraft carrier when he boarded the USS Carl Vinson. 

And just a few days back, Vietnam’s Ambassador to the United States Pham Quang Vinh was given a tour of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush as part of a two-day official visit to Norfolk, Virginia. 

Vietnam’s hosting of a U.S. carrier would no doubt be a further step forward in this regard and would be testament to Hanoi’s growing comfort in hosting U.S. vessels as well as its increasing role in supporting U.S. efforts in the broader context of the Asia-Pacific.
Second, the aircraft carrier visit is significant in the context of U.S. regional defense strategy. 

As noted earlier, aircraft carriers are a way for Washington to reinforce the longstanding reality of a robust U.S. regional presence, which is particularly important in the face of anxieties over Chinese maritime assertiveness. 

Indeed, it is no coincidence that the Vietnam visit is part of a broader voyage for the USS Carl Vinson strike group that also included a stop in the Philippines amid other engagements that have also involved the key Southeast Asian claimants in the South China Sea disputes (for instance, the US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer was also in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia for a port visit last week).
More broadly, the visit also spotlights the role of the USS Carl Vinson itself in the context of U.S. defense planning. 

As Washington has wrestled with the greater operational burdens for its vessels and looked for ways to manage that growing stress – as evidenced by the recent accidents and delays facing the Seventh Fleet – one of the solutions has been the greater involvement of the Third Fleet in the Western Pacific under the Third Fleet Forward initiative since 2016, which affords greater flexibility for operations including those designed to demonstrate U.S. presence. 

The Carl Vinson strike group is a tangible demonstration of Third Fleet Forward, carrying out its first deployment under that banner last year, and now on its second which officially kicked off last month.
Third and finally, beyond just the United States and Vietnam, the visit also bears significance in terms of the regional context as well. 

As I have detailed before, there remains palpable anxiety in key Southeast Asian capitals that 2018 could see some more provocative moves by China in the South China Sea after a year where there was some relative easing of tensions (See: “Beware the Illusion of China-Philippines South China Sea Breakthroughs”). 

There certainly is a case for this based on various factors, including the fact that China has moved past a year of domestic consolidation with the Party Congress last year and the Trump administration is set to follow through with a tougher line on China this year on several fronts that could lead Beijing to retaliate in turn.
In that context, the carrier visit is significant not only because it reinforces Washington’s current determination on the South China Sea issue, but also because such moves leave open the future possibility that it Beijing might seize on them as a pretext for rolling out moves it already had planned on doing anyway as it has been fond of doing in the past. 

As is often the case in the South China Sea as with international relations more broadly, though some aspects of the significance of a single event are often clear at the outset, others become more evident in relation to others that occur thereafter.

Sina Delenda Est

US aircraft carrier to dock in Vietnam for first time since 1975 amid tension over China’s rising sea power
By Nicola Smith, in Taipei and Danielle Demetriou, in Tokyo

Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson to dock in the Vietnamese coastal city of Danang in March.

The US navy is to dock in the Vietnamese coastal city of Danang in March, in the first visit of an American aircraft carrier to the country since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.
The USS Carl Vinson will arrive in Vietnam during the navy’s multinational disaster response exercises in the Indo-Pacific region, but its presence is also being widely perceived as an attempt to counter China’s military influence in Asian waters, where the East and South China Seas are the scenes of escalating territorial disputes.
Vietnam, which borders China, has long resisted its power and influence, but Beijing’s insistence that it controls almost all of the South China Sea has threatened competing territorial claims, including from Hanoi.
China’s assertion has also challenged US naval supremacy in the western Pacific, prompting Washington to attempt to woo Asian allies with the idea of closer military ties.
US aircraft carriers were a common sight off the coast of Vietnam in 1960s and 1970s, during the war. Relations between the two nations were normalised in 1995 and Washington lifted an embargo on weapons sales to Hanoi in 2016.

The news comes as the Japanese government is reportedly considering the deployment of surface-to-ship missile units across southern Okinawa to counter China’s rising maritime powers.
Officials are exploring plans to deploy a unit on the main Okinawa island in addition to other smaller islands in the region, with a view to bolstering its defences against Chinese vessels, government sources told Japanese media.
The deployment plans, which are expected to be detailed in the new National Defence Guidelines to be drafted by the end of the year, reportedly focus on advanced Type 12 surface-to-ship missiles with a range of more than 62 miles.
There are reportedly plans to install missile units on both Okinawa island and the smaller island Miyakojima, which would ensure that they can cover the strategically-located Miyako Strait which runs between them.
An administrative command centre was also likely to be set up on Okinawa’s main island to manage surface-to-missile units deployed across the region, according to Kyodo news agency.
The Miyako Strait in the East China Sea has emerged as a regional hotspot of tension, with Chinese naval vessels regularly fuelling tensions by passing through its waters every year over the past decade.
Miyako island also lies to the southeast of a disputed group of islands in the East China Sea known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, which emerged as a growing source of bilateral tension between the two nations.
Reports of the missile unit deployments coincide with a growing number of incidents involving increasingly assertive Chinese vessels venturing into waters close to the disputed islands.
Last week, three Chinese patrol ships reportedly entered Japanese territorial waters near the disputed islands, while last month, the Japanese government confirmed that a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine also had sailed around them.

Sina Delenda Est

USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier sails through South China Sea in defiance of China
By Adam Harvey

Deep in the South China Sea the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Carl Vinson, has a point to make.
"It shows resolve, and gives decision space to our leaders," the ship's commanding officer, Captain Doug Verissimo, said.
"When they put a carrier strike group somewhere it helps to show that the United States is interested.
"We don't have a lot of these, so when you put one in a certain area it has some influence.
"Of course it also gives our diplomats time and space to negotiate and make decisions, ultimately to try and prevent any type of armed conflict."
The Carl Vinson is the flagship of a strike group from the US Third Fleet.
The other vessels are here — but you can't see them.
The Carl Vinson is the flagship of a strike group from the US Third Fleet. 

Somewhere over the horizon, guided missile cruisers and destroyers form a protective shield around the aircraft carrier.
No-one on board will say it so bluntly, but the ship is sailing through the South China Sea to send a deliberate message: these waters aren't China's alone.
China has built airstrips and ports on reefs and shoals throughout the sea in defiance of a ruling from an international tribunal in the Hague.
"We want to keep laws and norms in place that we don't change the map along the way, to avoid frictions," Captain Verissimo said.
"As you change maps it creates new frictions and new issues."

The ship's aircraft includes FA18 Super Hornets, EA 18G Growlers and Nighthawks.

He doesn't mention it by name, but the only nation trying to change the map out here is China, which has drawn a so-called "Nine Dash Line" around waters it claims as its own.
It doesn't want anyone going near any of its artificial islands.
The strike group's commander, Rear Admiral John Fuller, won't reveal where he's planning on sailing during this mission but it's clear he's not charting his course using China's map.
"I will say our navigation is very good and we know where international law says we can operate and I know where international law says we can't. And we're going to do what international law says we can do."

The ship's commanding officer describes the Carl Vinson as a floating city — it has a dental surgery, gyms, a Starbucks cafe, armed guards, Friday night karaoke and even a chapel that holds services for Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists … and Wiccans.
There's a permanent crew of 3,000 — and another 2,000 people on board associated with the ship's aircraft: about 70 planes, including FA18 Super Hornets and Hornets, EA 18G Growlers, Nighthawk helicopters and surveillance aircraft.
There are 3,000 permanent crew on board USS Carl Vinson and another 2,000 for the ship's aircraft.

I'm on board of the Vinson along with media from the Philippines — the nation with perhaps the most to lose from Chinese expansion in the South China Sea.
China's already blocked Filipino fishermen from the lucrative fishing ground around Scarborough Shoal.
The US is making a big deal of this trip because it wants to show Filipinos that it stands with them in keeping the South China Sea open.
The ship is moving between an old ally and a new one … and another nation concerned about China's island-building in these waters.
The Carl Vinson began this leg of its journey in Manila and it'll drop anchor next off Danang, Vietnam.
It'll be the first visit from a US aircraft carrier since the end of the Vietnam War.
This time the fighter jets will be stowed away.

Chinese aggressions

Mattis says a U.S. aircraft carrier is likely to visit Vietnam amid Chinese tension
By Alex Horton 

The nuclear-powered USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier leaves San Diego Bay for deployment to the western Pacific Friday, Jan. 5, 2018.

HANOI, Vietnam — The United States is finalizing plans to dock an aircraft carrier in the south of Vietnam this March, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Thursday, part of growing military cooperation between the nations and a 1,092-foot-long signal to China to rethink its aggressive expansion.
The USS Carl Vinson will make a port call in Danang, according to the proposal, the first-ever carrier port call after smaller U.S.-flagged ships have moored here.
“We recognize that relationships never stay the same. They either get stronger or they get weaker, and America wants a stronger relationship with a stronger Vietnam,” Mattis told his counterpart Ngo Xuan Lich.
Mattis’s trip to Southeast Asia included a two-day visit in Indonesia, part of a larger Pentagon strategy to foster military relationships to blunt influence of big state powers like Russia and China.
The United States believes it may have found a key ally in Vietnam. 

The nation is increasingly emboldened to challenge Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea, a strategic region flush with resources.
China has mostly claimed the sea as its own and has studded artificial islands with radar arrays and military outpost, edging out Vietnam and other nations dependent on waters for fishing and commerce.
Vietnam-U.S. defense relations are still taking shape. 

Mattis said his talks with Vietnamese officials spurred creation of channels to develop military education and U.N. peacekeeping training but did not involve definite plans to sell or provide specific military equipment.
The United States sold a Coast Guard cutter to Vietnam last year, which officials said became the largest ship in its fleet.
That recent activity has relieved officials in Vietnam who believe the United States was too focused on brushfire insurgencies in the Middle East and Africa while China consolidated territory unchecked, said Zack Cooper, an Asia security analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
“They want to make sure the U.S. is actively engaged with the South China Sea,” Cooper said.
Mattis also met with Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, and thanked Vietnam for supporting U.N. sanctions against North Korea and recognized U.S. efforts to remedy the effects of toxic defoliants such as Agent Orange left behind at a Danang air base.
He also met with President Tran Dai Quang. 

Mattis will conclude his trip Friday, when he will meet his South Korean counterpart in Hawaii to discuss strategic issues in the region.

Chinese Paranoia

China urged U.S. to fire Pacific Command chief Harris in return for pressure on North Korea
KYODO
Adm. Harry Harris, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, addresses the Lowy Institute think tank in Sydney last December. 

BEIJING – China urged the United States to sack the head of the U.S. Pacific Command in return for exerting more pressure on North Korea amid concerns over its growing nuclear and missile threats, a source close to U.S.-China ties said Saturday.
Xi Jinping made the request, through his ambassador in the United States, to dismiss Adm. Harry Harris, known as a hard-liner on China, including with respect to the South China Sea issue, the source said.
China’s envoy to the United States, Cui Tiankai, conveyed the request to the U.S. side, to coincide with the first face-to-face, two-day meeting between Donald Trump and Xi in Florida from April 6, but the Trump administration likely rejected it, the source said.
China is a longtime economic and diplomatic benefactor of North Korea.
As the head of Pacific Command, Harris, who was born in Japan and raised in the United States, plays a vital role in the security of the region.
He was responsible in ordering last month the dispatch of the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier to waters near off the Korean Peninsula in a show of force amid signs the North was preparing to test-fire another ballistic missile or conduct a sixth nuclear test.
The Trump administration has called for exerting “maximum pressure” on North Korea to prod it to give up its nuclear and missile programs. 

The administration has said all options — including a military strikes — remain on the table.
Harris has pushed for the U.S. deployment of the advanced Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system to South Korea. 

China has opposed the deployment, saying it could undermine its security interests and the strategic balance of the region.
He has also called for continuing U.S. “freedom of navigation” operations in the contested South China Sea. 

Overlapping territorial claims, as well as land construction and militarization of outposts in disputed areas in the sea, remain a source of tension in the region.
According to the source, Cui also asked the Trump administration not to label China as a currency manipulator. 

As per the request, the United States did not label China as such.

Axis of Evil

China and Russia dispatch ships to shadow U.S. 'armada' as it approaches North Korean waters

By Neil Connor
The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.

China and Russia have dispatched spy vessels to shadow a US aircraft carrier group heading to North Korean waters, Japanese media said, amid rising tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions.
Beijing sought Russian help in averting a crisis over North Korea last week, as concerns grow in China that Donald Trump is seeking to confront North Korea over its weapon’s program.
The US president sent a navy group led by the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson into the region, in what is being seen as a signal to Pyongyang.
Mr Trump described the force as an “armada” and said that submarines were being sent which were “far more powerful than the aircraft carrier.”
The Yomiuri Shimbun, citing “multiple sources of the Japanese government”, said China and Russia had “dispatched intelligence-gathering vessels from their navies to chase the USS Carl Vinson”.
The ships are “strengthening warning and surveillance activities in the waters and airspace around the area,” Japan’s largest daily newspaper said, according to its English language sister publication, The Japan News.
It comes amid reports that tour companies in China have stopped arranging tour groups to North Korea, which had previously been a popular destination for Chinese tourists.
Media outlet thepaper.cn said several agencies had ceased organising package tours, including travel website Lumama and Ctrip – China’s biggest tour agency – which stopped group trips to North Korea at the end of 2016.
Ctrip told the Shanghai-based website that it did not know when it would resume trips to North Korea.
However, travel agencies told thepaper.cn that there had not been a notice from authorities forcing them to cancel trips to the reclusive state.
Media reported last week that China’s national carrier, Air China, suspended flights from Beijing to Pyongyang because of dwindling passengers.
Tensions have been escalating in recent weeks. 

A North Korean missile "blew up almost immediately" on its test launch on Sunday, US officials said.
But despite the apparent setback for Pyongyang, experts in Asia believe Trump has little room for manoeuvre over North Korea, given the military deterrent Kim Jong-un’s regime has at its disposal.
Soldiers march across Kim Il Sung Square during a military parade in Pyongyang, North Korea 
Arthur Ding, a military expert based at Taiwan’s National Chengchi University, said North Korea used a military parade on Saturday to show the world that “there is no way to reverse its bomb and missile program now, because, like India and Pakistan, North Korea is a de facto nuclear state.”
Mr Ding said: "Politically, it somewhat implies that the DPRK should be treated fairly -- if not equally -- with that of other nuclear states.”