By Hrvoje Hranjski
The USS Carl Vinson, which is steaming through the South China Sea, is just one of several high-profile displays of U.S. naval power as President Donald Trump's administration weighs options of how to reassure allies and respond to an assertive China.
The current makeup of the aircraft carrier strike group, which began routine operations Feb. 18, suggests it may not carry out an anticipated freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) just yet. The U.S. has challenged Beijing four times since 2015 by sailing close to Chinese-held islands in the disputed waters, but critics say the pace of such operations under the Obama administration failed to deter China from constructing the seven outposts that are now being fitted with radar and weapons systems.
The new U.S. administration has signaled a tougher approach.
"We have operated here in the past, we're going to operate here in the future, we're going to continue to reassure our allies," Rear Adm. James Kilby, commander of the San Diego-based Carrier Strike group 1, told journalists who toured the ship Friday as it was sailing between China's southernmost island of Hainan and Scarborough Shoal, which China seized from the Philippines in 2012.
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