Washington Times: For the first time in decades… The US has no aircraft carriers in the Indian and Pacific Oceans!
The Washington Times reported that for the first time in decades, the US military is facing the absence of an aircraft carrier in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, which raises concerns in light of the escalation of tensions with China over the disputed islands between China and Taiwan in the South China Sea.
The US newspaper pointed out that the Pentagon recently ordered the rapid transfer of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln from the Pacific Ocean to the Middle East, in anticipation of any possible escalation with Iran, against the backdrop of tensions resulting from the assassination of the former head of the political bureau of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh.
The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt has also been sent to the Middle East, with the two warships currently in the Gulf of Oman, according to a statement from the US Navy.
The move left the United States without an aircraft carrier in the Pacific for the first time since 2001, which Jim Funnell, former director of intelligence for the Pacific Fleet, called a serious matter.
The absence of the aircraft carrier sends a clear message to China from the Biden-Harris administration that the United States may not intervene to protect its national interests in Asia or those of its allies such as Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines, Funnell noted.
Meanwhile, the US Navy confirmed that the aircraft carrier USS George Washington, based in San Diego, will head to Japan to fill the gap, but it won’t arrive at its location until next month.
