Two US aircraft carriers held a joint exercise in the South China Sea on Tuesday, days after a US warship sailed near China-controlled islands in disputed waters, and has become another hotspot in the tense relations between Beijing and Washington.
The US Navy said that the two aircraft carriers Theodore Roosevelt and Nimitz and their two battle groups “conducted numerous exercises aimed at increasing operational compatibility between components as well as command and control capabilities”, in the first bilateral operations of two aircraft carriers in the congested waterway since July 2020.
The exercises come days after China condemned the sailing of the USS John S. McCain is near Beijing’s Paracel Islands.
Washington described the sailing of its destroyer as a freedom of navigation operation, and this is the first mission of its kind for the US Navy since Joe Biden took office.
“We are committed to ensuring the legal use of the sea, which is guaranteed by international law for all countries,” Rear Admiral Jim Kirk, commander of the Nimitz combat group, said in a statement.
Malay News
International Desk
