Leaders visit U.S. aircraft carrier on disputed sea
MANILA — The Philippine defense chief and two other Cabinet members on Saturday toured a U.S. aircraft carrier patrolling the disputed South China Sea on the invitation of the Navy, U.S. Embassy officials said.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II visited the Carl Vinson along with three Philippine security officials, said U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Molly Koscina.
The visit shows continuing top-level engagements between Philippine officials and the U.S. military despite Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s threat to scale back engagements with American forces while reaching out to China and Russia. There was no immediate reaction from China, which had opposed U.S. patrols in waters it has claimed virtually in its entirety.
The U.S. ambassador to Manila, Sung Kim, accompanied the Philippine officials to the Carl Vinson, where they watched F18 fighter jets land and take off and met U.S. navy commanders in charge of the 95,000-ton carrier as it sailed in the disputed waters, Koscina said.
U.S. Navy officials told a small group of journalists who were flown to the Carl Vinson on Friday that the U.S. warship deployment was aimed at ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, a key waterway for global commerce and security.
“We will be here,” Rear Adm. James Kilby told the journalists. “We’re going to continue to demonstrate that international waters are waters where everyone can sail, where everyone can conduct commerce and merchant traffic.”
Kilby’s comments and the presence of the carrier in the South China Sea are directed at reassuring American allies, who have expressed concerns over China’s aggressive actions to assert its claims to the South China Sea.
Duterte has ordered the Philippine navy not to proceed with previous plans to carry out joint patrols with U.S. forces.