U.S. to deploy aircraft carrier in South China Sea

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

NEW YORK, APRIL 16. The U.S. may be positioning the aircraft carrier, Kitty Hawk, in the South China Sea so as to launch jet fighters to protect American surveillance flights off the coast of China when they resume, The Washington Post reports.

Quoting unidentified navy officials, it says the flights from the Kitty Hawk could start as early as Thursday some 108 km off the coast of China in international air space.

In the aftermath of the April 1 collision over the South China Sea, Beijing has demanded that the U.S. stop its surveillance missions, but the Bush Administration has flatly rejected this position saying that its flights are legal as they are in international air space.

According to The Post, the Pacific Commander, Admiral Dennis Blair, has put forth three possible courses of action: putting the Kitty Hawk on a slow northward course through the South China Sea; keep the carrier lingering farther south of the Philippines; or keeping the vessel on its planned course to Guam.

According to one official, Admiral Blair has not actually recommended that the carrier's jets actually escort American reconnaissance planes. But if this is approved by the administration, the jets would fly farther off the Chinese coast, perhaps 160 km away.

``Our view is that the flights are so benign that they don't need escorts,'' the official has said. The point stressed by Washington is that its surveillance flights are not ``underhanded espionage'', rather legal and overt movements in international airspace.

China and the U.S. are due to meet in Beijing on Wednesday and the expectation is that at the meeting China will also bring up the subject of reconnaissance flights demanding that these be stopped completely or moved farther away from the Chinese coast. According to The Post, the U.S. intends to tell Beijing that the surveillance flights will continue.

The Kitty Hawk which has 70 aircraft is a part of a Carrier Battle Group that includes other ships and is based in Yokosuka, Japan.

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Section  : International
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