South China Sea Strategies for other nations (Not China)

U.S. Navy and Pacific Command leaders want to ratchet up potentially provocative operations in the South China Sea by sailing more warships near the increasingly militarized man-made islands that China claims as sovereign territory, according to several Navy officials.

The freedom of navigation operations, also known as FONOPS, could be carried out by ships with the San Diego-based Carl Vinson carrier strike group, which is in the Pacific Ocean heading toward the South China Sea, according to three defense officials who spoke to Navy Times on condition of anonymity to discuss operations in the planning phase.

The military's plans likely call for sailing within 12 nautical miles of China’s newly built islands in the Spratly and/or Paracel islands, a move that would amount to a new challenge to Chinese territorial claims there that has raised tensions between Washington and Beijing in the recent past.

The plans are heading up the chain of command for approval by President Donald Trump, and set the stage for a transnational guessing game about what the Trump administration wants its Asia policy to be.

For years, the Obama administration curtailed the Navy’s operations around contested areas like the Spratly Islands, an archipelago of uninhabited islands and reefs that China his built up in recent years. China has installed military-grade runways on the islands and could deploy surface-to-air weaponry.

U.S. Navy leaders believe that the FONOPS help clarify rights under international law and secure U.S. influence in the region. China, however, views the U.S. operations there as a provocative challenge to Beijing’s effort to claim the territory and the fishing rights and any oil or natural gas reserves in the surrounding waters.

“The Trump administration has to decide what it wants to achieve,” said Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

“I doubt it it's possible to compel China to withdraw from its newly built islands in the Spratlys. But the U.S. could develop a strategy aimed at preventing more land reclamation, capping militarization and deterring China from using its new outposts to intimidate and coerce its neighbors,” Glaser told Navy Times in an interview.

News of the military’s planned FONOPs in 2017 track with reports in the

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that Defense Secretary James Mattis, in closed-door meetings during his recent trip to Asia, assured Japanese officials that the U.S. military was planning an assertive approach towards China in the South China Sea.

'It’s what we do'

For years, U.S. military leaders such as Adm. Harry Harris, head of U.S. Pacific Command, 
have sought a more aggressive approach towards China in the South China Sea. U.S. Navy officials are quick to point out that the U.S. has been operating there for decades and are maintaining the historic status quo.

But Obama specifically prohibited the Navy from carrying out FONOPS in the South China Sea from 2012 through 2015. During that time, China put into overdrive its land reclamation and military construction projects around those reefs and islands.

Many in the Navy’s leadership think Obama’s policy of caution, intended to avoid unnecessary confrontation with China, made what was once a standard Navy mission seem aggressive.

“What the Navy wants is for them not to be a news story,” said Bryan McGrath, a retired destroyer captain and consultant with the Ferrybridge Group. “The real value in them is that they happen with such frequency that they just become part of the background noise.”

“The more it became a big deal, the more it looked like what we were doing was retaliatory or vindictive. It’s not.” McGrath said. “It’s what we do. We say, ‘This is international water and we will proudly sail in it, steam in it, or fly over it to protect our right to do so and others’ rights, as well.”



Making the point, a Navy official pointed to a recent freedom of navigation operation by the cruiser Port Royal aimed at excessive claims made by Sri Lanka, which demands ships transiting its coast obtain prior permission. 



The Port Royal made that transit Jan. 24 under the right of innocent passage, a terms that allows warships to pass through the territorial waters of another country without permission on the condition that the ship not carry out any military operations such as launching helicopters, shooting guns or lighting off any sensitive surveillance equipment.



“FONOPS are a regular, normal and routine occurrence,” the Navy official said.



Likewise, Navy officials sought to downplay the San Diego-base Vinson’s return to the region.



"There is nothing new about U.S. Navy aircraft carrier strike groups deploying to the western Pacific,” said U.S. 3rd Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Ryan Perry.

“Our strike groups have patrolled the Indo-Asia-Pacific regularly and routinely for more than 70 years and will continue to do so. Regional security, stability and prosperity depend on it,” Perry said.

It is unclear when Vinson and its strike group will enter the South China Sea.

The group includes the destroyers Wayne E. Meyer and Michael Murphy, and the cruiser Lake Champlain. 

Joining Vinson is Carrier Air Wing 2, which is composed of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 4; Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 78; Strike Fighter Squadrons 2, 34, 137, and 192; Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 113; Electronic Attack Squadron 136; and Fleet Logistic Support Squadron 30.

Cooler heads



Trump’s campaign last year raised hackles in Beijing by repeatedly accusing China of devaluing its currency to disadvantage U.S. goods in international trade markets, despite evidence that China has actually been doing the opposite. 

Trump pushed relations to near-crisis levels before his inauguration by taking a phone call from the Taiwanese president, something that no U.S. president or president-elect has done since the 1970s.

Furthermore, Trump’s Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told lawmakers he’d be open to blockading China from their Spratly Islands claims, a move that would risk direct military confrontation.

But in recent days the temperature has lowered significantly. In a phone call Thursday with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump expressed his commitment to America's existing "One China" policy in regards to Taiwan, which does not officially recognize Taiwan as independent from mainland China. 

Chinese officials were also pleased with a letter from Trump to Xi expressing his desire to have a constructive and mutually beneficial relationship.

Other signs that Trump is seeking a constructive relationship with China include the appointment of Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, a friend of Xi’s, as ambassador to China. And Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her daughter also visited the Chinese Embassy in Washington to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

Military power alone, however, is unlikely to resolve the issue in the South China Sea said Zhiqun Zhu, who heads The China Institute at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, where he is an associate professor of political science and international relations.



“I think sending the U.S. carrier group to the South China Sea is symbolic, demonstrating the U.S. resolve to defend its national interests including freedom of navigation,” Zhu said. “However, such show of force will not help solve the problem and can only raise tensions in the region. 



“Any miscalculation from either side may escalate tensions, which could spin out of control. China is unlikely to cave in no matter what the US military does in the South China Sea. Cooler heads are needed from both sides, not moves to unnecessarily provoke the other side.”



The risk of miscalculation was highlighted on Feb. 8 when a Chinese KJ-200 early warning aircraft flew within 1,000 feet of a U.S. Navy P-3C patrol plane over the South China Sea in international airspace over Scarborough Shoal near the Philippines. The Pentagon said the incident was unintentional.

“Trump will find his match in Xi in terms of toughness,” Zhu said. “President Xi has become the strongest leader in China in recent decades. He does not have much room for compromise on key foreign policy ... He simply cannot afford to appear weak.

“China is not picking a fight with the U.S. now, so Trump and his advisers have to understand the complexity of the bilateral relationship and avoid taking unwise actions such as starting a trade war that may make them feel good but in the end hurt both countries.”

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The Air Force’s first operational squadron of

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will head to the

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, not to Europe

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in December.

The news came in the form of one sentence today in the written testimony today of

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, deputy chief of staff for strategic plans, programs, and requirements before the House Armed Services air and land subcommittee: “Our first operational squadron is scheduled for additional deployments this calendar year to include a Theater Security Package Deployment to Pacific Command.”

The shift from a European deployment to one in the Pacific is notable as then-Secretary James told reporters five days before Christmas that the F-35As would make their first overseas deployment to Europe this summer. It appears to signal a strategic signal by the Trump Administration to China — and perhaps one to Russia — that the U.S. will up the ante in the South and East China Seas.

The signals from the Trump administration about this have been pretty clear. Rex Tillerson, now Secretary of State, told the Senate during his nomination hearing that

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was similar to Russia’s annexation of Crimea. The United States, he said, needed to send a “clear signal that first, the island-building stops, and second, your access to those islands also not going to be allowed.”

Deploying the country’s most advanced fighter to the region would help send that signal. Of course, the Air Force planes would not be alone. The first Marine squadron of

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to deploy overseas arrived Jan. 18 at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Japan.

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, the

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, told the subcommittee that he had enough money in his budget to pay for the $532 million needed to get the plane through System Development and Demonstration (SDD). However, the powerful Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) office estimates it will cost $1 billion. Bogdan, asked by a reporter about the discrepancy, said he didn’t know where CAPE got that estimate and said his was very accurate. CAPE estimates are usually very conservative and are often based on straight projections derived from previous weapons systems or from a program’s past performance.

Bogdan also said he’s in the “throes” of negotiations with Lockheed Martin about Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) Lot 11 of the F-35. The 120-airplane lot will be worth upwards of $11 billion should work out to $80 million to $85 million a plane for the F-35A.

Finally, as one would expect from an officer as experienced as Bogdan, he clarified that he knew Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg was on the Jan. 17 phone call between him and then President-elect Trump. He described the call as “very forthright” and said President Trump “asked some very, very very good questions” about the F-35C and the F-18 Super Hornet. Everything he discussed, Bogdan said. was “publicly releasable information.” Boeing is trying hard to convince the administration that

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and could replace a substantial portion of the F-35Cs the Navy currently plans to buy. Defense Secretary James Mattis has ordered

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Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 1, including Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 1's Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108), and aircraft from Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2, began routine operations in the South China Sea, Feb. 18.

Prior to their operations in the South China Sea, ships and aircraft from within the strike group conducted training off the islands of Hawaii and Guam to maintain and improve their readiness and develop cohesion as a strike group. The strike group recently enjoyed a port visit to Guam and after departing the Marianas, conducted operations in the Philippine Sea.

"The training completed over the past few weeks has really brought the team together and improved our effectiveness and readiness as a strike group," said Rear Adm. James Kilby, commander, CSG 1. "We are looking forward to demonstrating those capabilities while building upon existing strong relationships with our allies, partners and friends in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region."

Vinson last deployed to the Western-Pacific in 2015 and conducted a bilateral exercise with the Royal Malaysian Navy and Royal Malaysian Air Force in the South China Sea. Vinson first operated in the South China Sea in 1983 and in total, has operated there during 16 previous deployments over its 35 year history.

While deployed, the Carl Vinson CSG will remain under U.S. 3rd Fleet command and control, including beyond the international dateline, which previously divided operational areas of responsibility for 3rd and 7th Fleets. Third Fleet operating forward offers additional options to the Pacific Fleet commander by leveraging the capabilities of 3rd and 7th Fleets. This operational concept allows both numbered fleets to complement one another and provide the foundation of stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.

CVW-2 includes the "Black Knights" of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 4, the "Blue Hawks" of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 78, the "Bounty Hunters" of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 2, the "Blue Blasters" of VFA-34, the "Kestrels" of VFA-137, the "Golden Dragons" of VFA-192, the "Black Eagles" of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 113, the "Gauntlets" of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 136 and the "Providers" of Fleet Logistic Support Squadron (VRC) 30.

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Jura said:

now I noticed Story Number: NNS170218-01Release Date: 2/18/2017 8:03:00 AM
Carrier Strike Group 1 Conducts South China Sea Patrol

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and related article U.S. carrier group patrols in tense South China Sea

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America will continue to patrol the South China Sea to ensure freedom of navigation and overflight in the disputed region, a U.S. admiral said Friday amid questions whether U.S. involvement in one of Asia's potential flashpoints will change.

"We will be here," Rear Adm. James Kilby said on board the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson as it steamed through the gentle blue waters, with F18 fighter jets landing, taking off on catapults and zooming over the mammoth warship.

"We have operated here in the past, we're going to operate here in the future, we're going to continue to reassure our allies," Kilby said. "We're gonna continue to demonstrate that international waters are waters where everyone can sail, where everyone can conduct commerce and merchant traffic and that's the message we want to leave with people."

A commercial ship gingerly cruised several kilometers (miles) away as the Carl Vinson's kilometer-long flight deck, where crewmembers checked several parked F18s, a surveillance aircraft and helicopters, throbbed with activity under a mild breeze.

Kilby's comments followed reported Chinese moves to install missile defense systems on islands it recently built, and the inauguration of a new U.S. president who has raised questions about America's role in Asia.

The U.S. military took a group of journalists to the aircraft carrier during a routine patrol of the South China Sea, one of the world's security hotspots, in a mission that U.S. Navy officials said has continued for decades.

A U.S. administration official has said the Carl Vinson strike group's deployment in the South China Sea, a month after President Donald Trump took office, signaled U.S. intent to have a more active naval presence in the region.

Accompanied by a guided-missile destroyer and aircraft, the Carl Vinson began "routine operations" in the South China Sea on Feb. 18. It last deployed to the Western Pacific in 2015 when it conducted an exercise with the Malaysian navy and air force, according to the Pentagon.

The official declined to comment on whether the aircraft carrier group would undertake a freedom of navigation operation, a right that American officials have asserted in the past. The official requested anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to journalists on the administration's policy.

Under the Obama administration, the U.S. Navy sailed close to islands built by China from previously submerged disputed reefs on so-called freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea, provoking warnings and protests from Beijing.

During his Senate confirmation hearing for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson stirred controversy by comparing China's island-building and deployment of military assets to Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, and suggesting China's access to the island should not be allowed.

Defense Secretary James Mattis, however, has stressed the importance of diplomacy in resolving disputes in the South China Sea rather than military maneuvers.

U.S. Navy officials said Friday the Carl Vinson was patrolling waters somewhere between China's southernmost island of Hainan and the Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippines. China seized the shoal in 2012 after a tense standoff with Philippine government vessels, but the U.S. Navy officials said no incidents had occurred in two weeks of sailing in the busy waters.

"I would say everyone we've encountered so far has acted professionally as we would hope they would do in accordance with international rules, standards, norms and laws," Kilby said.

China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei have long contested ownership of the South China Sea, which straddles one of the world's busiest sea lanes and is believed to sit atop vast deposits of oil and gas.

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Lethe said:

Retired Australian Defence Force chief Angus Houston says Australia should not participate in "Freedom of Navigation" operations within 12 nautical miles of China's artificial islands in SCS.

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solarz said:

It's interesting that the people saying this are always retired officials.

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The Philippine defense chief and two other Cabinet members on Saturday toured a U.S. aircraft carrier patrolling the disputed South China Sea on the invitation of the Navy, U.S. Embassy officials said.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II visited the USS Carl Vinson along with three Philippine security officials, said U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Molly Koscina.

The visit shows continuing top-level engagements between Philippine officials and the U.S. military despite Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's threat to scale back engagements with American forces while reaching out to China and Russia. There was no immediate reaction from China, which had opposed U.S. patrols in waters it has claimed virtually in its entirety.

The U.S. ambassador to Manila, Sung Kim, accompanied the Philippine officials to the Carl Vinson, where they watched F18 fighter jets land and take off on catapult on the flight deck and met U.S. navy commanders in charge of the 95,000-ton carrier as it sailed in the disputed waters, Koscina said.

U.S. Navy officials told a small group of journalists who were flown to the Carl Vinson on Friday that the U.S. warship deployment was aimed at ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, a key waterway for global commerce and security.

"We will be here," Rear Adm. James Kilby told the journalists, including those from The Associated Press. "We're going to continue to demonstrate that international waters are waters where everyone can sail, where everyone can conduct commerce and merchant traffic."

Kilby's comments and the presence of the carrier in the South China Sea are aimed at reassuring American allies, who have expressed concerns over China's aggressive actions to assert its claims to virtually all of the South China Sea. The nuclear-powered Carl Vinson, which is manned by about 5,500 military personnel, has sailed through the contested region several times and other U.S. warships have routinely patrolled the waters for decades, Kilby said. Sailors expressed confidence and pride in what they do, stepping aside to give way to visitors in narrow corridors.

"Are you enjoying your time on board?" Navy Lt. Charlotte Benbow, who was in charge of the navigation bridge, asked journalists touring the mammoth ship. "Flight ops is pretty cool."

In recent years, China has turned seven mostly submerged disputed reefs into islands where Beijing is now reportedly installing a missile defense system. Chinese officials have stressed that they have a right to carry out those constructions in what they say are their territories and add they have no hostile intentions in the region.

But worries over China's actions have grown. Governments fear its actions could later restrict movement in a key waterway for world commerce with rich fishing grounds and potential undersea deposits of oil and gas.

"There is a lot of worry about what China's intentions are," said Ernest Bower, a senior adviser for the Southeast Asia program of Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"I think the question everyone has is, '(are) the Chinese trying to shut down access to the South China Sea?'" Boyer told reporters in Manila. "The Americans are saying under no circumstances would that be acceptable to the international community."

Duterte, who took office in June and describes himself as a left-wing politician, has declared that he would chart a foreign policy independent of the U.S., his country's longtime treaty ally. Last year, he lashed out at then-President Barack Obama and the State Department, which has raised concerns over Duterte's deadly anti-drug crackdown.

Duterte has ordered the Philippine navy not to proceed with previous plans to carry out joint patrols with U.S. forces in the contested waters, although his administration has agreed to continue a considerable number of joint military exercises with U.S. forces in the country.

There have also been questions if America's role as a counterweight to China, particularly in the disputed waters, would change under President Donald Trump.

After Obama ended his term, Duterte has moderated his language toward the U.S., allowing an opportunity for military engagements to continue to flourish, Boyer said, adding that he believed Trump's security team may take a firmer stance on the territorial disputes.

"I would actually suspect we'll see more determination from the Americans on the South China Sea, sort of a bit of a harder edge towards the Chinese," Boyer said. "I think that's going to ... cause a little bit of a bumpy road, to be honest with you."

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Japan plans to dispatch its largest warship on a three-month tour through the South China Sea beginning in May, three sources said, in its biggest show of naval force in the region since World War Two.

China claims almost all the disputed waters and its growing military presence has fueled concern in Japan and the West, with the United States holding regular air and naval patrols to ensure freedom of navigation.

The Izumo helicopter carrier, commissioned only two years ago, will make stops in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka before joining the Malabar joint naval exercise with Indian and U.S. naval vessels in the Indian Ocean in July.

It will return to Japan in August, the sources said.

"The aim is to test the capability of the Izumo by sending it out on an extended mission," said one of the sources who have knowledge of the plan. "It will train with the U.S. Navy in the South China Sea," he added, asking not to be identified because he is not authorized to talk to the media.

A spokesman for Japan's Maritime Self Defense Force declined to comment.


Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei also claim parts of the sea which has rich fishing grounds, oil and gas deposits and through which around $5 trillion of global sea-borne trade passes each year.

Japan does not have any claim to the waters, but has a separate maritime dispute with China in the East China Sea.

Japan wants to invite Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has pushed ties with China in recent months as he has criticized the old alliance with the United States, to visit the Izumo when it visits Subic Bay, about 100 km (62 miles) west of Manila, another of the sources said.

Asked during a news conference about his view on the warship visit, Duterte said, without elaborating, "I have invited all of them."

He added: "It is international passage, the South China Sea is not our territory, but it is part of our entitlement."

On whether he would visit the warship at Subic Bay, Duterte said: "If I have time."

Japan's flag-flying operation comes as the United States under President Donald Trump appears to be taking a tougher line with China. Washington has criticized China's construction of man-made islands and a build-up of military facilities that it worries could be used to restrict free movement.

Beijing in January said it had "irrefutable" sovereignty over the disputed islands after the White House vowed to defend "international territories".

The 249 meter-long (816.93 ft) Izumo is as large as Japan's World War Two-era carriers and can operate up to nine helicopters. It resembles the amphibious assault carriers used by U.S. Marines, but lacks their well deck for launching landing craft and other vessels.

Japan in recent years, particularly under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has been stretching the limits of its post-war, pacifist constitution. It has designated the Izumo as a destroyer because the constitution forbids the acquisition of offensive weapons. The vessel, nonetheless, allows Japan to project military power well beyond its territory.

Based in Yokosuka, near to Tokyo, which is also home to the U.S. Seventh Fleet's carrier, the Ronald Reagan, the Izumo's primary mission is anti-submarine warfare.

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