HANOI (Reuters) – For the 2nd time in two weeks, the United States has deployed two plane carriers to the South China Sea, the U.S. Navy claimed on Friday, as China and the United States accuse every single other of stoking tensions in the region.

The USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan carried out operations and armed forces routines in the contested waterway in between July 4 and July 6, and returned to the location on Friday, in accordance to a U.S. Navy assertion.

“Nimitz and Reagan Provider Strike Groups are running in the South China Sea, anywhere worldwide regulation enables, to enhance our commitment to a free and open up Indo-Pacific, a regulations centered global buy, and to our allies and companions in the location,” Rear Admiral Jim Kirk, commander of the Nimitz, explained in the statement.

The presence of the carriers was not in reaction to political or earth gatherings, the statement additional, but relations between Washington and Beijing are currently strained about everything from the new coronavirus to trade to Hong Kong.

Heated rhetoric has been on the increase in the region, where Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam obstacle China’s declare to about 90% of the sea.

China held armed forces drills in the sea previously this thirty day period, drawing powerful condemnation from both Vietnam and the Philippines, at the exact time as the two carriers first crossed the waterway for what the U.S. Navy explained had been pre-prepared exercises.

The U.S. Navy claims its carriers have prolonged carried out workout routines in the Western Pacific, together with in the South China Sea, which extends for some 1,500 km (900 miles). At 1 stage lately, the United States had 3 carriers in the location.

About $3 trillion of trade passes by the South China Sea every yr. The United States accuses China of striving to intimidate Asian neighbours who could possibly want to exploit its considerable oil and gas reserves.