The USS George Washington departed Fleet Activities Yokosuka on July 9 and is currently operating in the Pacific Ocean. The carrier has become a point of controversy between Washington and Seoul, as South Korean officials have said it will participate in the much-delayed joint U.S.-South Korean anti-submarine naval exercise, while the United States has not publicly committed the carrier to the activity. The underlying American hesitancy has been over potentially antagonizing Beijing. Though American carriers transiting and operating in the Yellow Sea are not unprecedented, U.S. Naval forces approaching the Shandong Peninsula and the Korea Bay — the maritime approach to Beijing itself — are considered a hostile gesture by the Chinese, who themselves are trying to expand their presence and influence in the South China Sea.
