Upping the ante in the South China Sea? (Tom Hanson, ASPI The Strategist)

The US Navy’s USS John C. Stennis carrier strike group has recently concluded a five-day ‘routine patrol’ in the South China Sea. Accompanied by several US vessels based in Japan, at first glance it appears that Admiral Harry Harris’ congressional testimony two weeks ago was the opening bell in a new round of military responses to continued Chineseprovocations. That perception is reinforced in light of Harris’ call to resurrect Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s 2007 proposal of a four-democracy naval convention to police the South China Sea and deter any who sought to ‘bully smaller nations through intimidation and coercion’. As great as China’s fear of a military powerful Japan is, perhaps even worse from Beijing’s perspective is the inclusion of USS Ashland in the Stennis group.Ashland is an amphibious docking vessel with the capability to support an amphibious assault by a Marine landing team on, say, a small islet such as Fiery Cross Reef.

http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/upping-the-ante-in-the-south-china-sea/