China dispatches Warships towards Japan and Taiwan as US Navy struggles with coronavirus

It seems the Chinese Navy do not rest nor let rest their east neighbours: The Liaoning Aircraft Carrier and its strike force (two guided missile destroyers, two multi-role warships and one supply-class fast combat support ship) passed 262 miles southwest of Nagasaki’s Danjo Islands about 7 p.m. on Friday 10th, then through the 155-mile-wide strait halfway between the Japanese islands of Okinawa and Miyako on Saturday 11th, then turned south and finally passed east of Taiwan on Sunday 12th the Miyako Strait, according Japanese officials talking under the condition of anonymity, and according the South China Morning Post, which cited the Taiwan Ministry of Defense, and the Japanese Sankei News, which also cited the Taiwan Defense Ministry.

Meanwhile, the Aircraft Carrier USS Reagan, undergoing maintenance at its homeport of Yokosuka Naval Base since November, is preparing for deployment and more than 1.000 sailors assigned to the Reagan and its strike force have been bussed to Yokota Air Base and Naval Air Facility Atsugi over four days last week to sequester themselves prior to deployment, according to the Task Force 70 post: “Once 14 days are complete, every sailor will provide a nasal swab sample that will be processed and returned. This process will take an additional 2-3 days before our COVID-free team embarks on Reagan,” according to the post, referring to the disease caused by the virus.

Currently, the Liaoning is the only aircraft carrier present in the Western Pacific; however, the USS America, a smaller amphibious assault ship that carries F-35B Lightning II stealth fighters, is underway in the East China Sea, as the USS Roosevelt is sidelined in Guam, where much of its crew are undergoing isolation to stem a coronavirus outbreak. The ship meanwhile is being sanitized before it can return to sea.