Warships attached to a destroyer flotilla with the navy under the PLA Eastern Theater Command steam in astern formation in waters of the East China Sea during the realistic training on April 23, 2021. Photo: China Military Online

 


The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan has returned to patrol missions in the Asia-Pacific region after a short period of maintenance at Yokosuka Naval base in Japan, with the Japanese Defense Ministry reporting on Tuesday that two warships of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy are also operating in the region. 

Experts said that the US carrier's return to action was a hurried one that exposed US anxiety over the lack of a military presence in an attempt to contain China.

Marking the end of a scheduled maintenance availability period, the USS Ronald Reagan and its strike group departed Yokosuka on Monday, the US Navy announced in a press release on Tuesday.

The carrier, which will continue its annual Indo-Pacific patrol, had a three-week period of maintenance and resupply in Yokosuka. The previous mission was extended from its original schedule because of orders from the Pentagon, after the PLA launched drills around the island of Taiwan in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to the island in early August, according to a Monday report by the US military newspaper Stars and Stripes.

The hurried return of the USS Ronald Reagan showed that the US was anxious about the lack of its aircraft carrier presence in the West Pacific, and it was eager to flex its muscles, Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military expert, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The US is likely to conduct exercises in sensitive waters such as those near the Taiwan Straits and in the South China Sea, strengthening the US military presence in the region with an eye on China, Wei said.

Also on Monday, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force spotted two Type 052C guided missile destroyers, the Changchun and the Zhengzhou, which sailed northeast through the waters between Amami Oshima and Yokoatejima into the West Pacific, Japan's Ministry of Defense Joint Staff said in a press release on Tuesday.

This means that both the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group and the Chinese destroyer flotilla were operating in the Philippine Sea to the south of Japan on Monday, observers said.

Activities of PLA warships are likely routine arrangements and not targeted at a third party, but if the region they sail in coincides with US carrier movements, they will take proper measures to prevent potential US close-in reconnaissance, Wei said.