미 항공모함 중동 차출로 태평양 ‘항모 제로’…동아시아 안보 ‘흔들’

A US Navy aircraft carrier originally deployed to the Pacific for a potential war with Iran has moved to the Middle East, creating a security vacuum in East Asia. This development has raised concerns about the reliability of the US's Indo-Pacific security strategy, particularly in light of the recent reduction in US-India-Pacific military exercises.

The US Navy's The War Zone reported on May 17th that the repositioning of the USS George Washington carrier battle group leaves no carrier available to counter or respond to potential future attacks from China and North Korea. The USS George Washington battle group left the South China Sea on the 13th, sailing through the Indian Ocean to take up its new role in the US Central Command theater of operations in the Middle East.

This placement is a first since 2001, apart from the brief deployment during the 2024 Gaza conflict. The absence of a US carrier in the Pacific has coincided with a reduction in US-India-Pacific military drills, potentially undermining the US's promise of security in the region. This vacuum may bolster Chinese claims that American security commitments are unreliable.

Mark Kimmitt, a former CSIS senior fellow, suggested on the CSIS website that while China may not invade Taiwan without a carrier presence, it could still seek to expand its influence in the Pacific. The US's focus on the Middle East comes after the Obama administration began to shift foreign and security resources towards Asia, under the broader "Asia rebalance" policy.

However, the Trump 2nd administration is moving in the opposite direction. Richard Hass, the retired president of the American Foreign Policy Council, commented in Substack that the recent events indicate that the US's "Asia rebalance" is, in fact, a "rebalance back," leading to more adventurous actions from North Korea and China, and potentially prompting US allies to adopt more independent stances, including the development of their own nuclear weapons.