American warships sent to deal with Russian and Chinese navy ships

Four U.S. Navy ships were dispatched to Alaska’s Aleutian Islands to intercept 11 foreign warships that had gotten too close to Alaska. There seems to be a conflict on reporting on this story, with one side saying that they conducted incursion into American waters, while another side says that they remained in international waters. The 11 ships contained both Chinese and Russian warships.

From Alaska’s News Source:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Four U.S. Navy warships were recently dispatched to the Aleutian Islands following an incursion of 11 foreign military vessels in American waters.

The exact time and location of the incursion was not made public, and information about the event is still being declassified.

Speaking by phone on Saturday, Senator Dan Sullivan confirmed the event happened “within the last few days,” and that while the military response was robust — four naval destroyers were dispatched to the ships’ location — it was also uncommon.

“First, this is unprecedented, not just for Alaska, but for America to have 11 warships jointly being operated by the Chinese and Russians — who are increasingly working together — essentially doing freedom of navigation and navigation operations incursions into Alaska’s area,” Sullivan said.

Ships from other nations are permitted to complete voyages through waters identified as territories of another country in a practice known as innocent passage. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas defines innocent passage as travel “not prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal State” whose waters are transited — but the 11 transiting vessels discovered recently were identified as military ships.

“It certainly reminds us of how important Alaska is, from both a strategic standpoint, but also a force projection standpoint,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan has repeatedly pressed military leaders for an increase not only in assets available to defend the nation, but in the infrastructure necessary to defend Alaska.

“After last year’s incursion, I mentioned to several leaders in the military, hey, we need to prepare for this happening again. And when it does, we need to have a much more robust response,” Sullivan said.

Alaska’s News Source has the balance of the story here.

Category: China, International Affairs, Navy, Russia