Two US carrier groups conduct joint operations in South China Sea

Sailors move aircraft from an elevator into the hangar bay of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt during an exercise on April 8, 2018 in the South China Sea. (Navy Office of Information via AFP)

• The busy waterway is one of several flashpoints in testy Sino-US relations

Two US carrier groups conducted joint operations in the South China Sea, the US Navy said on Tuesday, the first such exercise since July 2020 amid heightened tensions in the contested waters.
The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group and the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group “conducted a multitude of exercises aimed at increasing interoperability between assets as well as command and control capabilities,” the US Navy said.
The busy waterway is one of several flashpoints in testy Sino-US relations, with the United States continuing to challenge Beijing’s territorial claims in the contested waters.