The refusal to grant aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis the right to stop over in a Hong Kong port recently was done to “punish” the United States, according to Chinese state-run media.
Chinese officials, who are likely behind the April 28 decision to refuse the carrier a berth in Hong Kong, have not given any official explanation for the act. Parsing the statements in state-affiliated media is often the only way to fill in the gap.
On April 30, Xinhua, the official mouthpiece of the Chinese regime, ran a story with the headline: “The U.S. Military Shouldn’t Be Surprised That Stennis’ Hong Kong Visit Was Rejected.” It called on the United States to reflect on what it had done wrong that would justify “refusing to welcome a guest with courtesy.”
It also hinted at the reason directly, in the typically didactic style of Xinhua copy: “Why don’t we first look at what Stennis has done recently,” Xinhua intoned, listing a series of joint military exercises with South Korea and Philippines. “It was a small punishment to the U.S. military for being a provocative ‘vanguard,’” the article said, citing unidentified military sources.
