The aircraft-carrier strike group led by USS Carl Vinson conducting naval and air operations in the South China Sea this week is the first challenge to Beijing’s expansive maritime claims to the waters since Donald Trump took office.
The US Navy announced that the operations began on February 18, describing them as "routine," while Chinese state media quickly called the warships’ freedom-of-navigation activities a threat to China.
A Pentagon official said the naval maneuvers were not freedom-of-navigation but exercises of the kind the US Navy has been doing for a hundred years.
Read the entire article at Asia Times.