USS Ronald Reagan moors in Hong Kong

(To Antonio Vecchio)
21/11/18

After months of tension, the climate between the US and China seems to be reassuring with the permission to dock in the Hong Hong port of the Nimitz class aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76).

The Beijing decision follows weeks of absolute, mutual closure, during which the level of the confrontation, not just verbal, has grown progressively even with particularly serious demonstration acts, such as when - at the beginning of last month - the USS destroyer USS Decatur, sailing near the Gaven Reef atoll in the South China Sea, he was approached (about 40 m away) by a Chinese destroyer of the Luyang II class, which forced him to carry out an evasive maneuver (v.articolo).

A clear demonstration of strength, defined by Vice President Pence as a "hostile act".

But the contrast between the US and China, exacerbated by the advent of the Trump administration, is not exclusively expressed in the military field, where for months the confrontation between the two marines engaged on one side to protect the declared sovereignty over the islands is underway, also artificial, which have become real military outposts over time, and on the other to guarantee the freedom of navigation provided for by international law in those waters.

It is the economic and commercial sphere that is most affected, with the recent American imposition of tariffs and tariffs for about 250 billion dollars, which essentially aim to prevent the sale of technology and the sale of components of possible military use.

Even the military support in Taiwan, officially not recognized by Washington, is placed in the same game, with the aim of making the Chinese competitor feel his neck and consolidate the US influence a few miles away from the "mainland" of Beijing .

The permit to the mooring precedes the meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping in Argentina for two weeks, and it is certainly to be considered as a demonstration of good will as a precondition of the difficult dialogue between the two leaders.

According to the Hong Kong newspaper, South China Morning Post, the USS Reagan will arrive in the port of Hong Kong today, accompanied by destroyers, USS Curtis Wilbur and USS Benfold, and from the cruiser launches USS missiles Chancellorsville (photo).

The USS Ronald Reagan is a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, ninth by Nimitz class construction order: among the most technologically advanced, it has a displacement of over 120,000 tons and deploys 90 fixed-wing aircraft (including F / A 18 Super Hornet) and helicopters.

The ship, which is based in Yokosuka in Japan, home to the 7th Fleet, had called in Hong Kong in October last year.

(photo: US Navy)