With the conspiracy theories winning over sceptics on what really happened to the US navy in the recent months – with the collisions on the sea involving 4 US navy vessels since January – here’s the true story.
But beware. This does not mean China is not using these incidents to boost its image and rile the US Navy as incompetent. Not at all. It is certain that these incidents have fuelled the Chinese propaganda machine.
Nevertheless, here’s some of the view points of those who are telling the true story behind the recent spate of incidents.
According to Bryan McGrath, a former destroyer commander who is presently deputy director of the Center of American Sea Power at the Hudson Institute, the Navy’s surface fleet has been in a decline for the last 15 years.
HE said Donald Trump has increased the #Defense Budget but this increase is not enough, as the Navy has an onerous task of making its presence felt all over the globe.
China is now ridiculing the iconic US Seventh Fleet — the centrepiece of the American military presence in Asia – saying it is incapable of serving the US in the Asian region.
Others are saying there goes the ‘Asian Pivot’ which was already destroyed by the Trump Administration once it settled itself in the White House.
Needless to say that China is playing the minds to its favour, pushing the ridiculous ideas that it was behind the ‘incidents’ in order to show it has clout, and this was supported by the anti-China agenda on the other side of the fence.
The idea was to create a sense of damage control by some – seeing that they could not stop and will not be able to stop any further incidents from occurring.
Send in your scoop to news@theindependent.sg