From Fox News: The guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins (DDG-76) slipped quietly into the contested waters near Scarborough Shoal on the morning of Aug.13. As it pressed toward the edge of China’s declared “territorial sea,” shadowing vessels from the People’s Liberation Army Navy locked onto its wake. Beijing wasted no time issuing a formal rebuke, saying it had monitored, warned and “expelled” the U.S. warship for violating Chinese sovereignty.
Washington’s response was equally terse: the U.S. Navy insisted that Higgins’ passage — part of a freedom-of-navigation operation — was fully consistent with international law, and that China’s assertions to the contrary were “false.”
In the heart of the Indo-Pacific, the encounter was a revealing snapshot of the new front line in global naval power — controlling sea lanes, projecting force and leveraging alliances.
“There is no clear winning position,” said Brent Sadler, a retired Navy submariner and senior fellow for naval warfare at the Heritage Foundation. “The way we fight is very different — you can’t just look at the number of ships or munitions and say one side is better. That’s not how naval warfare works.”
The report explains that the U.S. Navy operates globally, with nuclear-powered carriers and unmatched experience.
However, China’s navy has recently begun to push beyond its nearby seas, and is
becoming increasingly more assertive.
An official with the U.S. Department of War said, “China’s military buildup sends a signal to all that Beijing intends to use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific.”
One goal for the Chinese Communist Party appears to be a takeover of Taiwan, “whatever the cost.”
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