U.S. Navy carriers conduct South China Sea drills as Chinese ships watch

By Tim Kelly
TOKYO, July 6 (Reuters) - Two U.S. Navy aircraft carriers
are conducting exercises in the contested South China Sea within
sight of Chinese naval vessels spotted near the flotilla, the
commander of one of the carriers, the USS Nimitz, told Reuters
on Monday.
"They have seen us and we have seen them," Rear Admiral
James Kirk said in a telephone interview from the Nimitz, which
has been conducting flight drills in the waterway with the
Seventh Fleet carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, that began on the
U.S. Independence Day holiday of July 4.
The U.S. Navy has brought carriers together for such shows
of force in the region in the past, but this year's drill comes
amid heightened tension as the United States criticises China
over its novel coronavirus response and accuses it of taking
advantage of the pandemic to push territorial claims in the
South China Sea and elsewhere.
China's foreign ministry said the United States had
deliberately sent its ships to the South China Sea to flex its
muscles and accused it of trying to drive a wedge between
countries in the region.
The Pentagon, when it announced the dual carrier exercise,
said it wanted to "stand up for the right of all nations to fly,
sail and operate wherever international law allows", describing
its 100,000-ton ships and the 90 or so aircraft they each carry
as a "symbol of resolve".
About 12,000 sailors are on ships in the combined carrier
strike groups.
China's claims nine tenths of in the resource-rich South
China Sea, through which some $3 trillion of trade passes a
year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam have
competing claims.
China has built island bases atop atolls in the region but
says its intentions are peaceful.
Contacts with Chinese ships had been without incident, Kirk
said.
"We have the expectation that we will always have
interactions that are professional and safe," he said. "We are
operating in some pretty congested waters, lots of maritime
traffic of all sorts."