The US has pulled its last aircraft carrier in 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 amid growing concerns about mental health and supply issues aboard the long-deployed carrier.

Impact on the Pacific Region

The lack of a US carrier in the Pacific may be short-lived if the Navy deploys another in the next couple of months. However, it shows how the open-ended operations with Iran are stretching the limits of US aircraft carriers and leaving American allies in the Pacific unsettled over the unpredictability of the Republican administration.

China sees the US military presence in the region as a threat to its rise and an obstacle to its ambition to seize Taiwan, the self-governing island it claims as its own. The US has argued that the Pacific region is too important economically to lose. The carrier’s absence gives China another opportunity to show its strength and demonstrate to countries in the region that the US is not the dominant power.

US Military Presence in the Region

China has been conducting naval exercises with Indonesia and has shown signs of aggression toward Japan and the Philippines, two key US allies that also have territorial disputes with Beijing. The US has been trying to reassure regional allies of its commitment, with Adm. Frank Bradley, head of the US Special Operations Command, visiting Manila to strengthen the countries’ alliance.

The US has 11 aircraft carriers and typically deploys two or three at a time. However, 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. The massive warships will need maintenance, likely causing a bottleneck at the nation’s only two carrier shipyards.

Original reporting: Dallas TX News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.