“Must be a great feeling for our Navy to know that the only reason they are in the region is to “prove” Sparky the Wunder CIC has a set,....”
You’ve got that entirely backwards. U.S. allies and the U.S. military backed Obama in a corner by insisting upon a Freedom of Navigation (FON) operation. The United States has been conducting these FON operations ever since there has been a U.S. Navy. In the beginning these missions were performed to gain more international recognition of the independence of the United States as a sovereign nation, and to protect U.S. merchant shipping. Today, the FON missions are still protecting national and international maritime shipping and aviation. This is a mission which is supposed to be preformed regardless of which President is in office at the moment. The fact such a mission has not been conducted since 2012 suggests Obama has been resisting his Defense, Navy, State, and allied advisors.
I had to scroll down a ways before finding your post. Thanks for explaining this.
FON IS a big deal. WWI was pretty much about this. Without Pearl Harbor it would have been our reason for getting into the ETO in WWII.
There are also disputes with China over the EEZ with China claiming certain authorities over their EEZ that are not granted by UNCLOS