Authored by Dave DeCamp through AntiWar.com,

The US Navy and Marines Corps are conducting drills within the South China Sea amid heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing over the Chinese language balloon incident.

The US Navy’s Seventh Fleet stated in an announcement that the plane provider USS Nimitz and its strike group carried out the drills on February 11 with the thirteenth Marine Expeditionary Unit. The Seventh Fleet didn’t say when the drills began or once they would finish.

The US has stepped up its army exercise within the South China Sea lately and has formally rejected most of Beijing’s claims to the waters. China, the Philippines, and several other different Southeast Asian nations all have overlapping claims to the South China Sea.

The US has concerned itself within the dispute, and beginning beneath the Obama administration, the US started crusing warships close to Chinese language-controlled islands within the South China Sea.

The Biden administration is seeking to broaden the US presence within the area and not too long ago signed a cope with the Philippines that can give the US entry to 4 extra army websites within the nation.

The present workout routines come after China declined a name from Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin following the US downing of the Chinese language balloon. Washington claimed the balloon was a spy system, whereas Beijing insisted it was a climate balloon solely used for civilian functions.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a deliberate journey to China when the balloon was first introduced by the Pentagon. For the reason that incident, the US army has shot down at the least two unidentified objects, however the White Home says they didn’t seem like Chinese language balloons.