The turbulent waters of the South China Sea will get a bit more crowded over the next month. This week, a U.S. carrier strike group led by the USS Carl Vinson docked in Manila – the first visit by a U.S. carrier to the Philippines since 2014. In mid-March, the Vinson will head to Da Nang for the first such visit to Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War. This comes a week after the U.K. Defense Ministry announced that a British frigate, the HMS Sutherland, would swing through the South China Sea in the coming weeks to assert the right of freedom of navigation in the contested waters.
The United Kingdom's announcement sparked a flurry of headlines asking why London was keen to provoke Beijing with such a stunt. It also raised concerns that the voyage would erase any progress made toward an elusive trade deal with China during British Prime Minister Theresa May's trip to Beijing last month.
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