U.S. carrier redeployment to Middle East raises concerns over Pacific security gap

WASHINGTON — The redeployment of a U.S. aircraft carrier from the Pacific to the Middle East is fueling concerns that the U.S. security commitment to South Korea and the wider region is weakening, even as China’s influence grows.

The redeployment also comes after U.S. President Donald Trump announced in a social media post on Sunday that he had ordered Washington to scale back joint military exercises with Seoul.

The Trump administration has already moved military assets, including Patriot air defense systems, from allies due to shortages caused by Iranian attacks. It recently sent the USS George Washington Carrier Strike Group from the Pacific to the Middle East to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln after its crew members attempted suicide. The Abraham Lincoln has been deployed for nine months.

The USS George Washington passed through the Singapore Strait on Thursday and was headed toward the Middle East, U.S. military news outlet The War Zone reported on Tuesday.

The redeployment leaves the Pacific without one of the U.S. Navy’s most important assets at the forefront of the country’s strategic competition with China.

Such temporary carrier gaps in the region are not unprecedented. The United States went without a combat-ready aircraft carrier in the Pacific in August 2024 due to escalating tensions in the Middle East.

The latest absence, however, is raising concern about competition between Washington and Beijing — which has intensified since Trump returned to office — as China could use the gap in U.S. military presence to expand its influence in the Pacific.

“The carrier departure coincides with Trump ‘substantially’ trimming routine joint U.S.-South Korea military drills and preparing for an upcoming summit with Xi Jinping in China,” Axios, a U.S. digital news outlet known for its concise news format, wrote in an article on Monday. “The combination of a carrier gap and reduced military exercises could reinforce Beijing’s argument that U.S. security commitments are unreliable.”

South Korea’s military authorities on Wednesday said it will curtail the duration and scale of the ongoing South Korea-U.S. joint exercise at Washington’s request.

The Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, which began on Monday, will be adjusted to run through Friday instead of the original Aug. 27. Some field training exercises will also be scaled back, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

With no clear end to the Middle East conflict in sight, the George Washington’s deployment to the region could also leave the Pacific without a key U.S. military asset for an extended period.

“If you are Taiwan or the Philippines or Japan, you’re looking at this and saying the [United States] is basically not here, and the Chinese are, and the Chinese are showing off their military capability,” said Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, as quoted by Axios.

“If the pattern continues, countries in the region could begin questioning whether Washington would actually be supportive in a crisis. The Chinese don’t even have to fight a war if they can convince those neighbors that the [United States] really isn’t going to be there for them, and that they should just bandwagon with China and go along with what China wants to do.”

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) also pointed to Trump’s decision to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea — after the country was reluctant to participate in the war with Iran — while taking a conciliatory approach toward North Korea.

“This will reinforce the growing belief in Asia and Europe that the [United States] is becoming an unreliable ally,” the WSJ wrote in its article on Monday.

“China is happy to see the USS George Washington leave the Pacific, as it seeks to persuade countries in the region that they can’t count on the [United States] for defense,” it added. “It may also increase the calls in the South for Seoul to develop its own nuclear deterrent to counter the growing nuclear arsenal in North Korea.”

Concerns over potential gaps in U.S. military presence are not limited to the Asia-Pacific.

The Washington Post (WP), citing multiple U.S. officials, reported that the U.S. Department of War is reviewing its military posture in the Middle East, including whether to withdraw some forces from the Persian Gulf region. Iran has struck major U.S. bases in the area.

The Office of the Under Secretary of War for Policy is leading the review, with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and U.S. Central Command also examining the issue, according to WP. The office is the Pentagon organization responsible for advising department leadership on defense strategy, planning, alliances and crisis response.

The U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, normally has around 40,000 troops stationed at more than 20 locations stretching from Jordan to Oman.

Since the war began, however, Iranian missile and drone attacks have demonstrated the vulnerability of those bases, leading the United States to move significant numbers of personnel to the Middle East as a precaution.

Some of these measures could remain in place even after the war ends, according to WP. Any lasting reduction in U.S. forces could raise concerns about weakened regional deterrence against Iran, given Middle Eastern allies’ longstanding reliance on the U.S. military for security.

BY KANG TAE-HWA [shin.woojin@joongang.co.kr]