U.S. naval presence recedes from Pacific amid Middle East focus

Security analysts report that the United States' decision to redirect the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group from Asia to the Middle East "dangerously opens the western Pacific," according to the "Asia Nikkei" newspaper.

An aircraft carrier may only return to the region by the end of the year when the currently refurbished unit reaches Japan.

Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin decided to reroute the USS Abraham Lincoln to the Middle East. This move was necessitated by the situation in the region and the threat of Iranian retaliation against Israel following the elimination of Ismail Haniye in Tehran.

This move occurred less than two months after Austin ordered another aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, also deployed in the Pacific, to replace the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group in the Red Sea. The USS Roosevelt, replaced by the USS Lincoln, will head to the U.S., and the USS Eisenhower is already in the base.

Bryan McGrath, a retired Navy officer and director of the consulting firm The FerryBridge Group, said the U.S. Navy's absence in the region plays into the hands of Chinese President Xi Jinping, "who believes the United States lacks sufficient naval power to cover its needs," according to the newspaper.

Collin Koh, an analyst at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore, said that the Pentagon concluded that "the situation in the western Pacific is stabilizing, at least for now."

Koh stated that this is due to tensions in the South China Sea easing since China and the Philippines agreed to a temporary agreement, and Taiwan and the Korean Peninsula, "although still tense, are at least under control."

A U.S. Navy spokesperson indicated that the USS George Washington will be the first to reach the region, taking over from the USS Ronald Reagan in Japan.