It's no secret that the South China Sea is a hotly contested territory. China's anachronistic policy is based on a nine-dash line found on an obscure map made by the Chinese government in 1947. This map is the basis of their claim that the "South China Sea is fully within the grasp of the Chinese People's Liberation Army," according to communist party propaganda disseminated by the Global Times.
As China claims the South China Sea as its sovereign territory and has built up artificial islands near the Philippines which they placed military bases on, the U.S. Navy has had other ideas.
Currently, two U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, the USS Ronald and USS Nimitz are conducting dual exercises in the South China Sea.
"The United States is the destructor and troublemaker of peace and stability in the region. The international community sees this very clearly," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian complained. Zhao has previously been discredited as a conspiracy theorist by falsely accusing the U.S. Army of bringing COVID-19 to Wuhan.
It now appears that the U.S. Navy has had about enough of China's shenanigans as they post geo-politically relevant memes that make the Navy's position on the South China Sea issue perfectly clear.
This implication, of course, is that the U.S. Navy isn't going anywhere. Another meme posted a day ago makes it clear that the Navy loves freedom of navigation operations.
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Reach Jack Murphy: jack@connectingvets.com or @JackMurphyRGR.
