WASHINGTON, 26 January 2022, (TON): Two US aircraft carrier groups have entered the disputed South China Sea for training, the Department of Defence said “as Taiwan complained of a new Chinese air force incursion at the top of the waterway including a fearsome new electronic warfare jet.”

The South China Sea and self-governing Taiwan are two of China’s most sensitive territorial issues and both are frequent areas of tension between the United States and China.

US Navy ships routinely sail close to Chinese-occupied islands in the South China Sea to challenge Chinese sovereignty claims, as well as through the Taiwan Strait, to Beijing’s anger.

The US Department of Defence said that the two US Navy Carrier Strike Groups, led by their flagships USS Carl Vinson and USS Abraham Lincoln, had begun operations in the South China Sea.

It said in a statement “the carrier groups will carry out exercises including anti-submarine warfare operations, air warfare operations and maritime interdiction operations to strengthen combat readiness.”

The training will be conducted in accordance with international law in international waters, the Department of Defence added, without giving details.