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)

New U.S. Marines Littoral Combat Regiments Will Spearhead Fight Vs. China In Indo-Pacific

The U.S. Marine Corps is pushing forward with plans to organize, equip and train its first three "Marine Littoral Regiments" (MLRs) that will spearhead combat operations against the Chinese in the event of a future armed conflict in the Indo-Pacific region.

It was only last week the Marines made known their intention to stand-up, or make operational, their first MLR. These more mobile but heavily-armed fighting units will be designed to execute the Marines' island-hopping strategy against the People's Liberation Army Ground Force and the People's Liberation Army Navy Marine Corps.

Initial plans call for an MLR consisting of 1,800 to 2,000 Marines and U.S. Navy sailors. An MLR will comprise a Littoral Combat Team, a Littoral Anti-Air Battalion and a Littoral Logistics Battalion

Brig. Gen. Benjamin Watson, Vice Chief of Naval Research and Commanding General, Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, recently said the service plans to have the first MLR reach initial operational capability in Fiscal Year 2023, which starts October 2023. This MLR, the 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment, will be based in Hawaii.

“There has been discussion of creating as many as three in the Pacific between now and 2030 and they would be forward-based in the Pacific, although they might–depending on the experimentation that we do–they might be rotational in terms of how we source some of the people that man these Marine Littoral Regiments,” said Watson.

“And then based on their -- where they’re home-based in the Pacific, elements would rotate on a regular basis further west,” he noted. “So working with allies and partners so that we persistently have a presence from each of the Marine Littoral Regiments out there in the western Pacific.”

Watson said the new MLRs can also fight in other geographies, including contested waters like the Black Sea near Russia or the Persian Gulf against Iran.

U.S. Marines

Watson described MLRs as fighting units optimized to fight and win in the complex littorals of the western Pacific. MLRs should also prove a useful tool for U.S. foreign policy in the Baltics, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Black Sea and any sort of close contested littoral terrain, according to Watson.

“So it’s a unit that’s designed to be lethal first and foremost, on land or at sea and from the land to the sea, to operate in distributed small units that are low signature and to bring capabilities that enable the larger naval or joint force, particularly in contested or a denied degraded environment.” (9 Feb. 2021)

China Plans Naval Facility Only 200 Km From Australia

China apparently aims to build a wharf or a naval station in an island in the south of Papua New Guinea (PNG) to offset a plan by Australia and the United States to build a joint naval base on an island to the north of the country.

Triggering speculation China is using subterfuge to build a naval facility at Daru Island in the Coral Sea are fresh reports in Australian media a Chinese company named WYW Holding Ltd is again goading the PNG government into approving its plan first broached in April 2020 to build a new industrial island city called "New Daru City" with an investment of $30 billion.

At the time, the Papuan government replied by saying it wasn't considering this Chinese proposal, and had no plans of designating Daru Island a "business, commercial and industrial zone" as the Hong Kong-registered Chinese company proposed.

Daru Island

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday dismissed as “speculative” reports about New Daru City.

“I honestly think it’s just speculative,” said Morrison. “It’s just people flying some kites and I’m not going to overreact to the noise that is flying around out there.”

“I speak pretty regularly with the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (James Marape) and we have a very good relationship and he well understands our relationship and the importance of our other partners and I couldn’t see Papua New Guinea being terribly hasty on anything like that,” according to Morrison.

Papua New Guinea is the largest recipient of Australian foreign aid and is unlikely to anger Australia, which lies only 200 kilometers to the south, by hosting a PLAN naval facility.

Australian military analysts argue the Chinese proposal to build a city makes no economic sense given the remoteness of Daru and its population of only 20,000 people. Some, however, suspect China instead plans to build a wharf for a naval facility to be used later on by the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).

The Chinese seem to have been encouraged to push the proposal for New Daru City after the PNG government in 2020 signed a memorandum of understanding with the Fujian Zhonghong Fishery Company. This Chinese firm intends to build a "comprehensive multi-functional fishery industrial park" on Daru Island.

The existence of a PLAN facility to the north of Australia will represent a dangerous strategic military threat to the country, which has taken the lead among Asian countries in confronting Chinese geopolitical and economic abuses.

Analysts also point to a project by the United States and Australia to redevelop the Lombrum Naval Base on Manus Island to the north of Papua New Guinea into a major naval base as a reason for China wanting a naval facility of its own in the area.

Australia and the PNG in 2018 entered into talks about providing port facilities to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and the U.S. Navy on Manus Island.

Australia and the U.S. proposed to expand Lombrum Naval Base, which has a deep-water port near important shipping lanes, to accommodate large RAN and U.S. Navy warships. Australia wants to bolster the military capabilities at Lombrum and three other ports to counter Chinese expansionism in Australasia and the neighboring Pacific Island nations.

RAN operated a naval base on Manus Island from the 1950s until it transferred the naval base to the Papua New Guinea Defense Force in 1974. (9 Feb. 2021)

Republicans Reaffirm Commitment To Stronger U.S. Navy

Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives vow to fight for the military spending vital to keeping the U.S. Navy on track to deploy 546 manned and unmanned warships by 2045 as rumors swirl of lower military budgets under the Biden administration in the coming years.

The need to finance the massive U.S. budget deficit is putting pressure on Congress to scale back expenditures. The U.S. incurred a deficit of $3.1 trillion in fiscal year 2020 ending September 30.

This number was more than triple the deficit for fiscal year 2019, and amounted to 15.2% of GDP, the largest deficit as a share of the economy since 1945. The economic devastation caused by COVID-19 and the huge stimulus packages that kept the economy from going under were major reasons for the record deficit last year.

Senior Navy officers are publicly voicing concerns to members of Congress about the likelihood of flat or declining defense budgets in the years ahead in light of U.S. economic woes.

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Harker said he expects to have a better understanding of the Biden administration’s priorities for shipbuilding once officials like deputy defense secretary nominee Kathleen Hicks and Neera Tanden, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, are confirmed by the Senate within the month.

Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, the top Republican and the Ranking Member in the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), and Rep. Rob Wittman of Virginia, Ranking Member of the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, affirm they'll push to maintain defense spending at current levels. Doing so will ensure money is available for the modernization and increased readiness for the Navy and the other armed services.

U.S. Navy warships

“And that means making sure that we stand by the funding levels that we’ve had in the past," said Wittman. "In fact, I would argue you have to be able to factor in an element of inflation to make sure we have the dollars necessary."

“You know that those dollars are needed, as we’ve seen in the National Defense Strategy, the 30-year shipbuilding plan, Battle Force 2045, however you want to parse it out. Those things are incredibly important,” he added.

Wittman and the Biden administration are on the same page in their assertion the emphasis on China as the main challenge for the Navy will drive U.S. strategy in Battle Force 2045 and make a larger fleet essential.

“You might have a debate about what classes of ships you want to prioritize or how you integrate unmanned platforms. But I think overall the idea is you have to be able to counter the Chinese and in turn our other adversaries, including the Russians that, while they’re not modernizing at the pace that the Chinese are, they have some pretty capable assets that do place the United States at risk. So you have to be able to do those things,” said Wittman.

Last December, the Navy released details of its immense warship building program that will ensure its capability to defeat the navies of China and Russia over the next half century.

The Navy's 30-year shipbuilding plan proposes investing more than $167 billion for 82 battle force ships and 21 unmanned surface vessels (USVs), among other ships, to expand its total surface and subsurface fleets.

The enormous shipbuilding program will see the size of the fleet hit the long-sought-after 355-ship level by 2033 compared to a low of 271 ships in 2015 and some 300 today.

By 2045, the Navy will have 403 battle force ships and 143 unmanned vessels. This future fleet should include 11 aircraft carriers, nine amphibious landing ships, 57 amphibious warfare ships, 74 large surface combat ships, 66 small combatant ships, 72 attack submarines and 12 ballistic missile submarines.

An enormous increase in the numbers of robotic ships is key to reaching a 500-ship Navy and reducing the huge maintenance costs of manned ships. The plan projects spending $4.3 billion on 21 robotic ships from fiscal 2022 to 2026. (7 Feb. 2021)

UK, Japan Forge Closer Military Ties Vs. China; Will Hold Joint Naval Drill In Asia

The aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (R0-8), flagship of the Royal Navy and her Carrier Strike Group 21, will conduct combat drills for the first time with warships of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) in Asian waters this year.

The joint decision confirming the deployment of CSG 21 to the Indo-Pacific was revealed by top national security officials of both Japan and the United Kingdom in a "2+2" virtual conference.

Involved in this virtual meeting were Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi, Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi, Foreign Minister Dominic Raab and Secretary of State for Defense Ben Wallace. The four ministers agreed Japan and the UK are each other’s closest security partners in Asia and Europe.

Japan and the UK have accelerated the pace of their military cooperation due to China's continuing militarization of the South China Sea and East China Sea, and its relentless harassment of the democratic Republic of China or Taiwan.

Raab and Wallace reaffirmed the UK’s long-term commitment to working closely with Japan to uphold the security of the Indo-Pacific and demonstrate the value of a unified approach to facing global challenges.

“We will take security and defense cooperation between Japan and the U.K. to a higher level,” said Motegi.

“Japan and the U.K. have forged a close defense and security partnership that is being elevated to new heights this year when the U.K. Carrier Strike Group visits the Indo-Pacific,” according to Wallace.

HMS Queen Elizabeth (R0-8),

The UK has also indicated its intention to join the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or the Quad, which consists of Japan, the United States, India and Australia.

The addition of the UK and its formidable naval power to Quad will transform this informal security group into what some are calling the "Asian NATO."

The Royal Navy said CSG 21 reached Initial Operating Capability (IOC) in December 2020. It was also in December when JMSDF and the Royal Navy formalized their agreement to deploy together as part of CSG 21.

During her Indo-Pacific mission, HMS Queen Elizabeth will host Northrop Grumman F-35B stealth jets from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 211, or “The Wake Island Avengers,” as well as F-35Bs from the Royal Air Force’s 617 Squadron “The Dambusters.” American participation in CSG 21 will include the U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS The Sullivans (DDG-68).

The Royal Navy said CSG21 will provide opportunities for the RAF and Royal Navy, along with the JMSDF and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) to operate together and support opportunities for future collaboration. (6 Feb. 2021)

Biden Assembling Asia Experts for Foreign Policy Team

President Joe Biden is assembling a team of "old China hands" as he prepares to confront the huge challenge presented by China and its aggressive foreign policy currently launching "gray-zone operations" against U.S. allies in Asia as a substitute for war.

Biden is putting together a foreign policy team consisting of old China hands, or experts on China, along with experts in Asian affairs. The importance Biden places on boosting U.S. influence in the Indo-Pacific while diminishing China's can be seen in his appointment of long-time China critic Kurt Campbell as the National Security Council’s Indo-Pacific affairs coordinator, otherwise called the "China czar."

Campbell's appointment sends a strong signal to America’s Asian allies the Biden administration will take a hard line against China in lockstep with its allies.

Campbell formerly served as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs under the Obama administration. He was one of the architects of Obama's "Pivot to Asia," or East Asia Strategy.

This strategy called for strengthening bilateral security alliances; deepening America's working relationships with emerging powers (including China) and advancing democracy and human rights, among others.

As Indo-Pacific coordinator, Campbell will have broad management over NSC directorates responsible for China-related issues and parts of Asia. He's expected to adapt the Pivot to Asia strategy to deal with the new strategic situation created by ex-president Donald Trump's confrontational strategic competition against China.

Campbell reports directly to national security adviser Jake Sullivan, a close friend whom he worked with at the Department of State during the Clinton administration. Sullivan is a China hawk like Sullivan.

The Biden administration asserts the strategic competition against China is one of its greatest foreign policy challenges. It's kept emphasizing it will take action against China in concert with its Asian and global allies

Along with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Campbell and Sullivan will play major roles in crafting the Biden administration's policy towards China.

“China policy in 2021 I think is actually going to be about ally policy,” said Scott Kennedy, senior advisor and Trustee Chair in Chinese business and economics at Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“So I think we’re gonna see Secretary of State Antony Blinken ... national security advisor Sullivan and Kurt Campbell spend much of their time not directly engaging China, but engaging allies in Asia and Europe on China,” he said.

CNS Shandong (CV-17)

The Biden administration is expected to focus its attention in countering China's relentless gray-zone operations against Japan and the Republic of China or Taiwan by ramping-up its freedom of navigation operations (FONOPS) in the South China Sea, the East China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

Gray zone operations, which are a favorite tool of both China and Russia, include  the ambiguous use of unconventional force, election meddling and economic coercion, among others. They're a step below an outright shooting war, but present a severe challenge to U.S. efforts to pursue its interests nonetheless.

China's gray-zone ops against Japan and China consists of sending its warplanes and warships close to or into the territorial waters or air defense identification zones of both countries.

Japan and Taiwan are forced to respond to China's incursions by deploying naval and air force units. This constant state of interceptions wears-down military personnel and equipment of both U.S. allies, increasing their vulnerability in the event of an actual Chinese attack.

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)