Washington is continuing to ramp up tensions in the South China Sea by challenging China's maritime claims. US peace activist Jan Weinberg has brought into focus Congress' multi-billion-dollar Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI) aimed at increasing America's military presence in the region.
Last week two US aircraft carriers, the USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan, resumed their rare naval exercises in the contested South China Sea. Simultaneously, the US Air Force deployed two B-1B bombers to Guam.
On Monday, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai lashed out at the US military buildup in the Indo-Asia Pacific region. He stated that China's maritime claims in the South China Sea are based on a “very strong historical and legal foundation”, adding that Beijing would solve its territorial disputes with neighbouring nations through diplomatic negotiations.
FONOPs in South China Sea
The US aircraft carriers with 12,000 sailors and Marines aboard kicked off the operation in the South China Sea in early July, after the Chinese finished their naval drills near the disputed Paracel Islands. Last Friday, Nikkei reported that two American special electronic warfare units will be deployed to the Indo-Pacific region as early as 2021 “to operate over various domains from electronic and cyber warfare to precision missile targeting”.
Besides this, the media quoted Retired General Jack Keane, a former Army vice chief of staff, who said that following the US withdrawal from…
