The United States has pulled its last aircraft carrier from Asia as President Donald Trump focuses on Iran and the Western Hemisphere. The USS George Washington is departing the Pacific and expected to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East.

Impact on the Region

The lack of a US carrier in the Pacific may be short-lived, but it shows how the open-ended operations with Iran are stretching the limits of US aircraft carriers. American allies in the Pacific are unsettled over the unpredictability of the Republican administration.

Beijing sees the US military presence in the region as a threat to China’s rise and an obstacle to its ambition to seize Taiwan. The United States has argued that the Pacific region is too important economically to lose. China conducted naval exercises with Indonesia and recently showed signs of aggression toward Japan and the Philippines, two key US allies that also have territorial disputes with Beijing.

US Commitment to the Region

Adm. Frank Bradley, head of the US Special Operations Command, has been trying to reassure regional allies of Washington’s commitment. He was in Manila, telling his Filipino counterparts that US special operations forces are ready to step up joint exercises to strengthen the countries’ alliance.

The US has 11 aircraft carriers and typically deploys two or three at a time. But the Navy may soon deploy four if the USS Theodore Roosevelt leaves San Diego for the Middle East, allowing the Washington to return to the Pacific. However, the massive warships will need maintenance, likely causing a bottleneck at the nation’s only two carrier shipyards.

Original reporting: NBC4 Los Angeles — read the source article.