High Tension: China Deploys Aircraft Carrier as US Senators Criticize South China Sea Conduct

Military System - China has sent an carrier army unit to the East and South China Seas, consistent with
statements from governments within the region and satellite imagery. The maneuvers come at a time
of accelerating tension within the South China Sea and a denouncement of China’s recent sinking of a
Vietnamese fishing boat by members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

China’s naval exercise with the Liaoning carrier was first reported by Japan’s military on
Friday. the japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force said the Liaoning, amid battle
group of two destroyers, two frigates, and a support vessel skilled the Miyako Strait,
between Okinawa and therefore the Miyako Islands, thereon day.

Satellite imagery shows the Liaoning at its homeport of Qingdao as of April 5, along side a kind
901 tender – a comparatively new class of vessel for replenishing combat ships stumped . Last
Wednesday, both sailed out of port and reappeared east of Shanghai, within the East China Sea, on
Friday, along side escorts.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said Sunday the Liaoning army unit was observed
moving off the island of Taiwan’s eastern coast right down to its southern coast.

A Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy spokesperson later confirmed the Liaoning and its
army unit was engaged during a naval exercise at the Miyako Strait, the Bashi Channel south of
Taiwan, and within the South China Sea. The ships were identified as two Type 052D missile
destroyers, two Type 054A missile frigates, and a kind 901 support vessel.

This coincides with naval maneuvers within the region by the us . The U.S. Navy sailed a
destroyer through the Taiwan Strait on Friday, Reuters reported, and therefore the Japanese Maritime
Self-Defense Force conducted a bilateral exercise with the U.S. within the East China Sea on Friday
and Saturday.

All this takes place within the aftermath of the April 2 sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat during a
confrontation with a China Coast warship near the disputed Paracel Islands, which China
maintained was the fault of the Vietnamese vessel. The incident drew criticism from the U.S.
State and Defense Departments, Vietnam itself and therefore the Philippines.

On Friday, a bipartisan group of senior U.S. lawmakers joined the chorus of disapproval.

Leading figures from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee--Republican chairman Jim Risch,
top-ranking Democrat Robert Menendez, and Republican Asia subcommittee chairman Cory
Gardner and his Democratic counterpart, Ed Markey--ssued a strongly worded statement over
the vessel sinking and China’s reported deployment of military aircraft within the South China Sea.

“The reports of a Chinese Coast Guard vessel sinking a Vietnamese fishing boat and China’s
other activities on illegally reclaimed features within the South China Sea are deeply concerning,”
said Risch.

“These are just the newest samples of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) blatant intimidation

of its neighbors to say its excessive maritime claims. The CCP is undermining regional stability
at a time when the international community should be coming together to combat the COVID-19
pandemic.”

Menendez echoed that sentiment and said: “China’s continued divisive and aggressive behavior
within the South China Sea is deplorable.” He added: “I strongly believe that the us must
get up and support efforts by regional institutions and our allies and partners to make sure
freedom of navigation and economic opportunity throughout the whole Indo-Pacific.”

On an equivalent day the Liaoning was sailing with its escorts north of Taiwan, China conducted an
aircraft exercise south of the self-ruled island, over which Beijing claims sovereignty.

A Xian H-6 bomber, KJ-500 early warning aircraft, and Shenyang J-11 fighter flew to the
southwest of Taiwan, prompting the U.S. Air Force to send a reconnaissance aircraft within the same
direction, consistent with a Taiwanese Ministry of National Defence handout .

Meanwhile, Chinese state media was blaming Vietnam for stoking tensions within the South China
Sea after Hanoi formally protested the April 2 sinking of its fishing boat . Without providing any
evidence, an article within the Global Times claimed that Hanoi was provoking anti-Chinese
sentiment to distract from Vietnam’s domestic challenges in combating COVID-19.