The Pacific’s Carrier Gap = Win for China
The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is set to be replaced by the USS George Washington in the Middle East after an extended deployment, a move that will leave the Pacific without an American aircraft carrier. As AP News reports, even if the USS George Washington is replaced in the coming months, the optics of the Pacific carrier gap don’t sit well with supporters of the Trump Administration’s supposed APAC and Western Hemisphere-oriented National Security policy– let alone American partners in China’s neighborhood.
What it means for China
A lack of an aircraft carrier in the Pacific doesn’t mean Beijing will take the moment to invade Taiwan. But it serves as a chance to inject fuel into its narrative war.
Take what former Navy submariner and defense analyst at the Hudson Institute Bryan Clark said:
“They’re using this as part of the narrative to demonstrate to the Philippines, to Japan, to Indonesia and others that the U.S. is not the big dog in the western Pacific anymore…. They would just prefer that countries in the region decide that China is the bigger power and the U.S. is not able to guarantee their security anymore.”
The takeaway
It’s probably no coincidence that China conducted naval exercises with Indonesia this week and has recently been provoking confrontations with the Philippines and Japan. Beijing will happily take this moment to project how America is a distracted and unreliable partner to its Asian allies.
