This is just China exercising its growing naval might. They’ve had their sights on dominating the South China Sea and the western Pacific for decades but did not have the forces to express it until the last ten years, or so. They are violating no maritime laws or committing incursions into our economic or exclusion zone. They are doing precisely what the U.S. does.

During the early 90s in the western Pacific our battle group caught a Chinese sub lurking close by. It was a free-for-all. Every ASW (anti submarine warfare) platform available started actively pinging that thing until they were forced to surface. The Chinese government was livid. They threatened use of force if we didn’t back down and even scrambled jets to the area, but our Tomcats intercepted them long before they reached the area and chased them away. A high res picture of the sub on the surface taken by one of our aircraft became a favorite screensaver on the ship.

China’s navy has suffered quite a few indignities at the hands of the American navy over the years. They’re just trying to return the favor.

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