US won’t send ships to China’s anniversary celebration this year

The US Navy will not send warships to participate in celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army Navy.

More than 60 countries, including US allies Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines, are expected to send naval delegations to attend the celebratory fleet review, The Japan Times reported, citing the Chinese defense ministry.

The US, however, will only send a defense attaché from the US embassy in Beijing.

"The U.S. Navy will continue to pursue its primary goal of constructive, risk-reduction focused, discourse with the PLAN," Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Eastburn told Business Insider in an emailed statement April 4, 2019. "Along with the international community, the Department of Defense engages with the PLAN in forums that advance international rules and norms and a Free and Open Indo-Pacific."

"The United States Navy will continue to engage the PLAN through established military-to-military dialogues," Eastburn added. He declined to say why the US Navy will not be participating in China's anniversary celebration as it has done in the past.

Tensions between the US and China have been on the rise in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait. In recent years, the US and China have had occasional confrontations at sea.

The guided missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald under way in the Pacific Ocean.

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Paul Kelly)

The US disinvited the Chinese navy from 2018's Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises in response to China's militarization of the South China Sea.

"The PLA is the principal threat to U.S. interests," Adm. Philip Davidson, the commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in February 2019. Stressing that China is a threat to US and allied interests in the First Island Chain, he added that "the PLA is quickly increasing its ability to project power and influence beyond the First Island Chain."

The US Navy sent the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald to participate in the Chinese navy's 60th anniversary event, the South China Morning Post has reported. The decision to not send one this year could be seen as a snub.

"America's ships and sailors are needed across the Indo-Pacific," Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe recently told The Washington Free Beacon, praising the administration's decision.

"America's Navy is busy enough confronting the challenges posed by China's aggression in the South China Sea and other critical aspects of great power competition without the distraction of participating in communist pageantry," the Oklahoma Republican added.

Indeed, the anniversary fleet review is a major propaganda moment for Beijing. "The naval parade in April aims at sending a message to the international community" about the capabilities of the Chinese navy, a Beijing-based military analyst told the South China Morning Post.

The anniversary celebrations will be held in Qingdao from April 22 to 25, 2019.

This article originally appeared on Business Insider. Follow @BusinessInsider on Twitter.