USS George Washington Departs Pacific for Middle East
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- Hunter Marston of the Lowy Institute says Taiwan and the South China Sea are deeply interconnected, warning a Chinese blockade or invasion of Taiwan could produce "spillover effects" in the South China Sea.
- Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) faced debate criticism for saying national security was "not my thing" when asked about US interests in Taiwan and the South China Sea; she's running for a full term after being appointed to fill the seat of her late brother, Lindsey Graham.
- Xi Jinping told President Trump during his May Beijing visit that Taiwan "remains the most important issue" in the bilateral relationship and warned that mishandling US-Taiwan ties could lead to confrontation; Trump later called arms sales to Taiwan "a very good negotiating chip."
- China asserts sovereignty over nearly the entire South China Sea despite a 2016 international arbitration ruling invalidating those claims; on the ruling's 10th anniversary in July, the US, UK, and 12 other countries reiterated that Beijing's expansive claims have no legal basis.
- Chinese coast guard ships have used water cannons, military-grade lasers, and dangerous blocking maneuvers against Philippine forces, and China conducted military drills this month near the disputed Scarborough Shoal.
- The USS George Washington is leaving the Pacific to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East, where the Lincoln's deployment was extended to support operations against Iran, temporarily leaving the western Pacific without a US aircraft carrier at a moment of rising tensions with China.
Why it matters: With the USS George Washington departing for the Middle East, the US is temporarily without an aircraft carrier in the western Pacific at a moment of rising tensions with China — exposing the strategic cost of splitting attention between Iran operations and Indo-Pacific commitments. Taiwan's dominance of advanced semiconductor production and the South China Sea's role as a key maritime trade corridor mean any disruption would ripple far beyond the region.
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