French Navy Nuclear Submarine Patrols South China Sea

 The French Navy nuclear attack submarine SNA Emeraude (S604) and the support ship BSAM Seine (A604) have completed a joint patrol of the South China Sea, the first such mission acknowledged by the French this year.

The Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs confirmed the unopposed transit of the South China Sea by the French warships. It pointed out the navy has conducted several freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea in the past.

France has always emphasized the importance of defending freedom of navigation in the volatile region. It also has exclusive economic zones in its territories on the Indo-Pacific region, and intends to protect its sovereignty and interests.

"This extraordinary patrol has just completed a passage in the South China Sea," tweeted Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly.

"A striking proof of the capacity of our French Navy to deploy far away and for a long time together with our Australian, American and Japanese strategic partners."

"Why such a mission? To enrich our knowledge of this area and affirm that international law is the only rule that is valid, whatever the sea where we sail," she later said.

Parly said France is joining the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries in pushing back against China’s growing militarization and excessive territorial claims in the region.

SNA Emeraude

In June 2019, Parly said France will continue to sail in the South China Sea more than twice a year. She urged like-minded countries to follow to maintain open access to the waters that China illegally claims to own almost in its entirety.

In September of that year, France, Germany and the UK issued a joint statement to the United Nations supporting a judgment by the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague in July 2016 that dismissed as illegal and invalid China's claim to own almost the entire the South China Sea based on its spurious "nine-dash line" map.

The three countries said China's claim to “historic rights” in the South China Sea does not comply with international law.

The transit of the South China Sea by the Emeraude and the Seine almost coincided with a powerful freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) conducted Tuesday by two U.S. Navy nuclear powered aircraft carriers and their carrier strike groups (CSGs).

The Biden administration carried out its third FONOP in Asian waters since it came into power three weeks ago with a FONOP by the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and its CSG 9 and the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) with its CSG 11.

The navy said it “conducted a multitude of exercises aimed at increasing interoperability between assets as well as command and control capabilities" during the dual-carrier FONOP.

“We are committed to ensuring the lawful use of the sea that all nations enjoy under international law,” said Rear Admiral James Kirk, commander of CSG 11.

It was the second two-carrier combat exercise in the South China Sea since the USS Nimitz and the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) did so in July 2020. (11 Feb. 2021)

Two U.S. Navy Carriers Do Combat Drills In South China Sea

The Biden administration carried out its third freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) in Asian waters since it came into power three weeks ago with two U.S. Navy aircraft carriers on Tuesday holding a show of force combat drill in the South China Sea.

The dual carrier operation was conducted by the nuclear-powered aircraft carriers USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and its Carrier Strike Group 9 (CSG 9) and the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) with its CSG 11. Altogether, more than 10 Navy warships were involved in the maneuvers.

The Navy said both CSGs carried out operations and exercises to support a free and open Indo-Pacific. It said it “conducted a multitude of exercises aimed at increasing interoperability between assets as well as command and control capabilities."

The carriers led their individual CSGs consisting of escorting destroyers, cruisers, submarines and supply ships.

“We are committed to ensuring the lawful use of the sea that all nations enjoy under international law,” said Rear Admiral James Kirk, commander of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group.

It was the second two-carrier combat exercise in the South China Sea since the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) and the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) did so in July 2020.

Tuesday's drill was the third FONOP in Asia since the Biden administration took office on January 20. It was also the most powerful given two aircraft carriers were involved.

The operation comes in the wake of tough statements by Biden, who said China will be taken to task for its excessive geopolitical ambitions. On Monday, Biden said his administration is ready for “extreme competition” against China but on its own terms. He told Americans and the world his administration intends to compete hard against China.

USS Nimitz

He also said Chinese leader Xi Jinping "doesn't have a democratic ‘small D’ bone in his body.” Despite these strong words, Biden also opened the door to talks with China.

“The question is, I’ve said to him all along, that we need not have a conflict,” he pointed out.

On the same day Biden made these remarks, the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) again stoked Chinese anger, this time by conducting a FONOP near the Chinese-controlled Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.

The Southern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army Navy said McCain entered into what it claimed are the territorial waters of the Paracels without permission, “seriously infringing upon China’s sovereignty and security."

It was the Navy's first such operation in the South China Sea this year but the second in Asia. On February 4, McCain accomplished the Biden administration's first FONOP in Asia when it transited the Taiwan Strait separating mainland China from Taiwan in a voyage that sparked Chinese anger. (10 Feb. 2021)

USS John S. McCain Accomplishes 1st U.S. Navy Taiwan Strait Transit Of Biden Administration

The U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) has again transited the Taiwan Strait in the first freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) under the Biden administration.

Its routine passage Thursday sends a clear signal to China the Biden administration won’t back-off from confronting China to ensure freedom of navigation on the high seas. It was the 14th transit of the Taiwan Strait since 2020 by a Navy warship, said the United States Seventh Fleet based in Hawaii.

The navy thumbed its nose at China 13 times in 2020, the most number since 12 transits in 2016, the final year of former President Barack Obama's administration.

"The ship's transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific," said Lt. Joe Keiley, a spokesperson for the Seventh Fleet.

"The United States military will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows."

Of the 14 transits since 2020, two were conducted by McCain. On New Year's Eve, this destroyer and the USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54) both completed a rare two warship passage of the Taiwan Strait separating Taiwan from mainland China.

USS John S. McCain

China's Ministry of Defense said the unopposed transit of the strait indicates the "incumbent U.S. administration's desperate destructive acts." It was the last FONOP in Asia by the Trump administration.

McCain has been the most active in challenging illegal maritime claims by China and Russia. A warship of Destroyer Squadron 15 of the Seventh Fleet based in Yokosuka, Japan, McCain conducted a FONOP in international waters off Peter the Great Bay in the Sea of Japan in November 2020 to the fury of the Russian Navy.

On December 22, McCain performed a FONOP in the South China Sea near the Spratly Islands, which Taiwan, China, and Vietnam claim to own. On December 24, she appeared off Vietnam for a FONOP in the vicinity of the Con Dao Islands in the South China Sea in an unusual warning to Vietnam.

In August 2017, McCain sailed to within 11 km of Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands, a Philippine island seized by China in the South China Sea, in another FONOP. China expressed its "strong dissatisfaction" to the McCain's incursion. (5 Feb. 2021)

U.S. Navy Report Affirms China's Navy is Greatest Maritime Threat to U.S. since Cold War

The U.S. Navy reaffirms to the U.S. Congress China presents the greatest maritime military threat to the United States, and that its main mission is to curtail this threat.

The Navy made its case for confronting China in its "China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress" issued Thursday.

It said the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), is now the major challenge to its ability "to achieve and maintain wartime control of blue-water ocean areas in the Western Pacific -- the first such challenge the U.S. Navy has faced since the end of the Cold War."

The modernization and building-up of the PLAN is also a key element of communist China's challenge to the long-standing status of the United States as the leading military power in the Western Pacific.

Twenty-five years of massive spending by the Chinese government has led to the PLAN becoming a formidable military force within China’s near-seas region, PLAN warship are also conducting a growing number of operations in more-distant waters, including the broader waters of the Western Pacific and the Indian Ocean.

The PLAN build-up will eventually see to its presence not only in the Indo-Pacific but also in the waters around Europe in the near future, said the report.

The Navy affirmed China’s military modernization effort, including its naval modernization effort, is now the top focus of U.S. defense planning and budgeting. This modernization has resulted in PLAN surpassing the U.S. Navy in numbers of battle force ships, making PLAN the numerically largest in the world.

USS George Washington (CVN-73) and USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) transit the Pacific Ocean

The U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) said PLAN has 360 battle force ships compared to a projected total of 297 for the U.S. Navy by October 2020.

ONI estimates China will have 400 battle force ships by 2025, and 425 by 2030. It also said PLAN's warships, aircraft, and weapons are now much more modern and capable than they were in the 1990s.

“Chinese naval ship design and material quality is in many cases comparable to (that of]) USN (U.S. Navy) ships, and China is quickly closing the gap in any areas of deficiency," according to ONI.

The Navy is meeting the PLAN challenge with all the resources at its disposal. The report said the Navy in recent years has taken a number of actions to counter China’s naval modernization effort.

Among these moves are shifting a larger percentage of the Navy fleet to the Pacific, assigning its most-capable new ships and aircraft and its best personnel to the Pacific.

The Navy has also maintained or increased general presence operations, training and developmental exercises, and engagement and cooperation with allied and other navies in the Indo-Pacific.

On the materiel side, the Navy has accelerated numerous programs for developing new military technologies and acquiring weapons (with a focus on long-range), new warships, aircraft and unmanned surface vehicles and unmanned underwater vehicles.

As for China-centric warfighting doctrine, the Navy has also begun developing new operational concepts, such as new ways to employ Navy and Marine Corps forces, for countering Chinese maritime anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) forces. (Jan. 29, 2021)

US Will Disregard Law Telling China Coast Guard to Fire on Foreign Ships

 A new Chinese law authorizing the China Coast Guard to fire on foreign ships in the South China Sea and the East China Sea will likely not deter the U.S. Navy from conducting its provocative freedom of navigation operations (FONOPS) in the South China Sea and elsewhere in Asia.

The law is the first serious foreign policy challenge facing the new administration of President Joe Biden, who only took office on January 20. The Biden administration is expected to file a strong protest against the law, as will Japan.

China has revealed a new law that for the first time explicitly allows the China Coast Guard to fire on foreign vessels -- including military vessels -- in a dangerous move that makes the prospect of an armed conflict with the United States and Japan more likely.

The contentious Coast Guard Law  empowers the China Coast Guard to “take all necessary measures, including the use of weapons when national sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction are being illegally infringed upon by foreign organizations or individuals at sea."

The law also allows coast guard personnel to demolish other countries’ structures built on Chinese-claimed reefs and to board and inspect foreign vessels in waters claimed by China.

The bill empowers the China Coast Guard to create temporary exclusion zones “as needed” to stop other vessels and personnel from entering. The National People’s Congress standing committee, China’s top legislative body, passed the law on Friday.

Western military analysts said the law intends to cement China's illegal claim of ownership of the South China Sea against seven other Asian countries, and to frighten the Japanese into yielding the East China Sea.

Christian Le Miere, founder of Arcipel, a strategic advisory firm based in London and The Hague, said the new law “strikes at the heart” of America's policy of freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

“China’s coast guard is already doing most of the heavy lifting in maritime coercion in the near seas, so it’s worth examining the new legislation just passed on this issue," he said.

The U.S., however, will likely disregard the law and has consistently declared illegal China's claim to own almost the entire South China Sea. In July 2017, the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague nullified China’s nine-dash line claim, which asserts control of most of the South China Sea. The Philippines brought the case against China to the International Court of Arbitration.

The U.S. under the former Trump administration increased the pace of its FONOPS in Asian waters. On New Year's Eve, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) and USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54) conducted a two warship transit of the Taiwan Strait, drawing China's anger.

In an official statement, the U.S. Navy said the FONOP by the USS John S. McCain and USS Curtis Wilbur was "routine" and "in accordance with international law."

USS John S. McCain

"The ships' transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The United States military will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows," said the Navy statement.

On December 22, McCain performed a FONOP in the South China Sea near the Spratly Islands, which Taiwan, China, and Vietnam all claimed to own. Two days later, the destroyer reappeared off Vietnam for another FONOP in the vicinity of the Con Dao Islands in the South China Sea in an unusual warning to Vietnam.

On December 18, the USS Mustin (DDG-89) also conducted a Taiwan Strait transit. A few days later, the PLAN's newest aircraft carrier, the CNS Shandong (CV-17), moved through the strait en route to the South China Sea. (Jan. 25. 2021)