The US Navy’s Pacific Fleet has reportedly drawn up plans for a “global show of force” to serve as a warning to China, according to a report by CNN.
The network claims the fleet is set to carry out a “highly focused and concentrated set of exercises involving US warships, combat aircraft and troops” for a week during November.
The report follows an incident earlier this week in the South China Sea, when a Chinese destroyer, Lanzhou, came within 41 metres of an American destroyer, the USS Decatur.
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US Naval officials deemed the close call “unsafe and unprofessional”, condemning China for making what it said was a deliberately provocative manoeuvre.
The Straits Times notes that while “close encounters between US and Chinese forces are hardly unprecedented”, this week’s close call and the leak of plans for a show of force by the US is likely to cause tensions between Washington and Beijing to rise to their highest in years.