>an amphibious assault ship outfitted last year with F-35B jets

I.e. not a carrier group which is what most people think of when they hear "F-35-laden warship"

>joined the annual Exercise Balikatan with the Philippines this month.

This is an annual exercise, not an escalation of some sort, doesn't get any clearer than that.

>The USS Wasp didn’t pass within 25 nautical miles of the shoal, according to a U.S. defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The figure suggests that the ship wasn’t conducting a so-called freedom of navigation operation, a practice criticized by China that the U.S. uses to assert international sailing rights within 12 nautical miles of disputed features.

Basically they're just in the neighborhood, not trying to stir up trouble.

>The moves come as officials in Manila escalate protests over...

There's always something else going on at any given time.

0: https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/carriers-2014....

You can cause a lot of destruction with subs and carriers in a region, but you still need people with guns to lay claim to territory, or to police it effectively.

1600 marines could hold territory against a bunch of ill-equipped and unorganized terrorists or insurgents. But 1600 marines ain't holding territory against any major state military.

This is exactly what happened with war in Iraq. The enemy was completely unable to mobilize.

Naturally, if the enemy is already in a war-time posture and already mobilized, you can't employ this tactic for any city, but it might be enough to seize a port or other piece of strategic infrastructure (such as an air field).

Of course this is different when conducting maneuver warfare such as the initial invasion of Iraq in 03, still took 250,000 troops 3 weeks to claim 'victory'.

Here's a great site that has some leaflets from the Iraq war: [2]

1: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syrian-...

2: http://www.psywarrior.com/IraqNFL062.html

What would people say if Russia and Cuba conducted joint navy exercises 25 miles off Key West?

China has learned that and won't let borders in its vicinity being decided by Western powers anymore.

The reality is that no-one is going to take those islands away from China anymore as China understood the importance of physical occupation.

Those islands are thousands of miles from the US's mainland. Those exercises are geopolitical muscle flexing. Of course they are.

First, this isn't an island, it's a shoal. The only dry land to speak of is 2 skerrys (32 square feet of land in total). They are uninhabited.

Second, the shoal is 400 miles from mainland China. It's only about a 100 miles from the Philippines, who have a claim on the shoal.

Third, UN arbitration has sided with the Philippines. China rejected such arbitration, but of course they would, since they have no real claim here.

This isn't just "muscle flexing" it's the US helping out an ally, one that happens to be in the right.

The borders in the area where decided by Westerners, China was shortchanged and is now using the Western approach: Land, claim, defend.

The reality on the ground is that China (and that really does include both the PRC and Taiwan) claims this area and that it physically occupies it. Unless the Philippines and others propose to start a war the area is therefore de facto Chinese.

I found that one interesting. Reminded me of something.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@24.6285609,-82.8711957,2321m/...

Plus ça change...

There have been international conventions for many years on how sea control works. China does whatever it wants -- but that doesn't make the area Chinese, it means they're violating international agreements and conventions and treaties.

https://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/article205552879.htm...

Always check where those articles come from. Here it's Bloomberg.

It's interesting to see the narrative specifically aimed at mainland China when the claim over the South China Sea really is pan-Chinese (that means the PRC and Taiwan make the same claims).

IMO this is going to be the K-129 / Project Azorian [1] all over again, with Russia, China and the US racing to recover what they can of the sensitive avionics / electronics off the ocean floor, should any be intact.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Azorian

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Wasp_(LHD-1)

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Task_Force_76

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expeditionary_Strike_Group

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphibious_ready_group

The article states that the fact that jets are embarked is novel, which is quite a significant addition.

Operational F-35s in the region are absolutely intended to dampen China's military and commercial ambitions in the South China Sea.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/05/south-china-se...

Since the end of WW2 the U.S. has become, for better or worse, the world's stabilizing agent. Of course there are peaks and valleys - argue all you want about American intervention in the Middle East or South America - but broadly speaking world governments expect America to take care of business.

Huge swaths of modern society depend on the U.S. being a (relatively) honest broker and protector of "peace" - two notable examples of which, in fact, are Japan and Taiwan. The latter very arguably remains independent today thanks to American protection. If China chose to claim exclusive rights to the South China Sea tomorrow, it's unlikely that Japan or Taiwan or Vietnam or any coalition of coastal nations together - without American or pan-European support - could push back successfully.

All of this is shifting, of course, as nationalist movements gain momentum and confidence in America wanes but for the moment (and the immediate future), this is the world we live in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_Japan_Maritime_...

The "Air Self-Defense Force" has more combat jets that the UK's Royal Air Force, and almost as many as the mighty Israeli Air Force. The Japanese are just postured exclusively for national defense and territorial integrity....which many people don't realize includes the ability of executing credible counter-offensives to liberate lost territory. I would argue that until the past ~5-10 years or so, the Chinese stood no chance in a big fight out here in the First Island Chain. The qualitative AND quantitative differences between the Chinese and Japanese hardware were just that large.

This is only true of Japan, who as part of the WW2 reconstruction, agreed to draw up a pacifist constitution and receive protection from the US against threats in the Cold War era.

Asian leaders have "taken care of" plenty of business using US training, money and technology. Sukarno's regime in Indonesia killed 500k-1000k people alone in anti-communist purges in 1965-66. Back in those days, you could say the words "they'll nationalize the oil fields" and the US would come-a-runnin'.

https://web.archive.org/web/20180726044318/http://www.atimes...

So if economic activity is the metric that supposedly justifies US interest there, then the need to secure its vital maritime lines of communication is even more pronounced for China than for the US.

edit: plus freedom of nav demos

Conducting Naval operations in international waters with and at the request of our many allies in the region is something we've done since WWII.

Aircraft-carrying ships are so passé in today's world of missile-carrying ships.