Navy ships have been going there every year this past 13 years as well as before the change over. So a navy ship pulling into port there is not anything out of the ordinary. In fact my visits consisted of being there before and after the changeover.
Yea I know Bush was China blind as much as Clinton likely was worse due to family interest there. As a result China had her way with us from his first few weeks in office on. {remember China forced down one of our planes in international skies} The U.S./China military sharing is insane. China is not by any means an ally and is not by any means our friend nor wishes us to prosper. They are using us and are fixing to destroy us with the help of some greedy traders and greedy politicans help.
The sooner we can get a POTUS and congress back in office who understand as much the far better off we will be as a nation in almost every aspect.
Before China as far as I know carriers only pulled into one other Communist nation for liberty and that was the former Yugoslavia which was nor a Warsaw Pact alliance which was of no threat to us in any way. But then again I think using the UAE as a shipyard is foolish also. It's a gross breach of national security IMO. Surrendering our assets in the PI and moving them to UAE was insane. Filipino's as a U.S. territory at least held an allegiance and loyalties to the U.S. Many were actually members of the US armed forces {Navy} when I was in.