America will continue to patrol the South China Sea to ensure freedom of navigation and overflight in the disputed region, a US admiral said yesterday amid questions on whether US involvement in one of Asia’s potential flashpoints will change. “We will be here,” Rear Adm. James Kilby said on board the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson as it steamed through the gentle blue waters, with F-18 fighter jets landing, taking off on catapults and zooming over the mammoth warship. A commercial ship gingerly cruised several kilometers away as the Carl Vinson’s kilometer-long flight deck, where crewmembers checked several parked F-18s, a surveillance aircraft and helicopters, throbbed with activity under a mild breeze.

Flores, H. (2017, March 4). US admiral on disputed sea: We will be here. The Philippine Star, pp. 1, 8.