Daily US Times: The US Navy has said that it will send two aircraft carriers and several accompanying warships to the South China Sea in the coming days to participate in a military exercise.

A spokesman for the Navy’s Seventh Fleet, Lt. Joe Jeiley said the USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Groups are conducting dual carrier operations in the South China Sea and the Philippine Sea.

The spokesman said operating two carrier strike groups in the South China Sea and Philippine Sea provides advanced training opportunities for the forces and provides combatant commanders with significant operational flexibility should those forces be called upon in response to regional situations.

US Navy said the aircraft carriers’ deployment is in response to any political or world events.

”This advanced capability is one of many ways the U.S. Navy promotes security, stability, and prosperity throughout the Indo-Pacific.”

The drill is long planned but comes as Beijing conducts military exercise of its own in the area, near the contested Paracel Islands. These Chinese military drills have been criticized by the US and other countries. The Wall Street Journal first reported the carriers’ participation in the coming exercise.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said on Friday the US and its Southeast Asian friends agree that China’s military exercise in disputed waters of the South China Sea is highly provocative and the US oppose Beijing’s unlawful claims.

”China’s military exercises are the latest in a long string of PRC actions to assert unlawful maritime claims and disadvantage its Southeast Asian neighbors in the South China Sea,” a Pentagon statement published on Thursday said.

The Paracel Islands are claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam, and the US has long said Beijing has militarized the islands in the South China Sea via the deployment of military hardware and construction of military facilities.

The US Navy occasionally conducts so-called “Freedom of Navigation Operations,” most recently in May, to challenge Beijing’s claims to the islands.

US military exercises will not be conducted close to any of the contested islands in the region, officials have said.

The US Navy routinely operates in the area. But the operation of two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers — the USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Nimitz — represents a significant show of force and comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing over a number of areas, including Hong Kong.

You may read: Pressures increasing on Malaysia and Indonesia in the South China Sea