Is Good 'Ole Fashioned Gunboat Diplomacy Back?

As the USS [i]Harry S. Truman[/i] battlegroup is operating in the North Sea to show Russia we can put a lot more combat aircraft closer to their coasts than they can to us, the U.S. Navy is preparing a major operation in November off the coast of China to show the communist nation that the United States is quite prepared to counter any military actions by the Chinese.

This comes just days after the Chinese destroyer [i]Lanzhou[/i] came within 45 yards of colliding with the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS [i]Decatur[/i] near the Chinese-claimed reefs in the Spratly Islands.


Last week, U.S. Air Force B-52 bombers flew over the South China Sea and East China Sea.

The Pentagon's National Defense Strategy has been concerned with the growing Chinese and Russian navies. Secretary of Defense James Mattis has asked the Joint Chiefs and regional commanders to come up with "innovative and unexpected ways" to deploy U.S. military forces.