US aircraft carriers carry out military manoeuvres in disputed South China Sea

Aircraft carriers engaged in exercises in the South China Sea, as Chinese military completed drills in the same disputed region.

A US jet flies over the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. Picture: US Navy

Two US aircraft carriers engaged in exercises in the South China Sea on Monday as China’s military completed drills in the same contested region.

USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan entered the sea over the weekend, the first time that two American nuclear-powered carriers have operated together in the area since September 2014. They were escorted by guided-missile cruisers and destroyers.

Rights and sovereignty claims in the area, and China’s reclamation and fortification of contested islands have been a source of tension between Washington and Beijing.

Aircraft carriers USS Ronald Reagan, bottom, and USS Nimitz.

China claims almost the entire sea but other nations have competing claims, and the US and its allies consider it an international waterway vital for shipping and global trade.

China’s navy began military drills last week around the Paracel Islands, which are also claimed by Vietnam.

An amphibious warship and Chinese coastguard vessels were spotted on satellite imagery. The Chinese naval exercise was due to finish on Sunday.

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz. Picture: AP

There has been no sign of China’s two aircraft carriers in the area, avoiding what could have been a combustible combination as the US carrier strike groups arrived.

The presence of the US carriers will be viewed in Beijing as provocative. China objected to USS Gabrielle Giffords, a littoral combat ship, being in the South China Sea last week.

Liaoning, China’s first carrier, finished a month’s training in May and is thought to be back at her home port at Qingdao in Shandong province, bordering the Yellow Sea.

The second carrier, Shandong¸ is believed to be on sea trials in the Yellow Sea, more than 1000 miles from the South China Sea.

Sailors assigned to the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group perform pre-flight checks. Picture: US Navy

Hu Xijin, editor of the Global Times, a Chinese state-backed newspaper, said he expected that US sailors on the carriers would “enjoy the beautiful view” but added that China possessed “real ‘aircraft carrier killer’ missiles”.

The US Pacific Fleet said that the carrier operations were not in response to political or world events.

They are still a significant show of force, demonstrating America’s determination to defend the right of commercial shipping to pass through the South China Sea.

Captain Pat Hannifin, commanding the Ronald Reagan, said his carrier and the Nimitz provided “combat lethality unmatched anywhere in the world”.

The US naval operations are in the same region in which Chinese forces are conducting exercises. Picture: US Navy

The Times