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The Conversation
The Conversation
Krista Wiegand, Professor of Political Science, University of Tennessee

The US is about to blow up a fake warship in the South China Sea – but naval rivalry with Beijing is very real and growing

A Marine amphibious assault vehicle takes part in a 2019 joint U.S.-Philippines exercise. Ted Aljibe/AFP via Getty Images

As part of a joint military exercise with the Philippines, the U.S. Navy is slated to sink a mock warship on April 26, 2023, in the South China Sea.

The live-fire drill is not a response to increased tensions with China over Taiwan, both the U.S. and the Philippines have stressed. But, either way, Beijing isn’t happy – responding by holding its own staged military event involving actual warships and fighter jets deployed around Taiwan, a self-governed island that Beijing claims as its own.

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