With the increasing naval activity in the South China Sea, American warships will continue to maintain presence in the region to keep the peace and to ensure one of the world’s busiest sea lanes remains open to navigation. This was pointed out yesterday by Rear Admiral Karl Thomas, commander of Task Force 70 of the USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group when he faced the media aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier that dropped anchor in Manila for a brief port visit. “We have defense treaty with the Philippines and we are in this part of the world to provide security and stability and this ship is very capable and ready to respond to a wide range of operations whether they be crisis, humanitarian disaster response, and certainly do whatever security tells us to do and we’re ready to do it,” Thomas said. Asked of the challenges in ensuring freedom of navigation in South China Sea, Thomas said there are lots of warships already operating in the region.

Laude, J. (2019, August 9). US warships to maintain presence is SCS. The Philippine Star, p. 6.