Over the past few years, we’ve seen the US play a more active role in Asia, primarily as a counter to China. On July 4, 2010, the South China Morning Post, in a likely ‘leaked’ story wrote about three US Ohio-class submarines simultaneously appearing at ports throughout Asia. In the last year the US has also decided to play a role in the South China sea / island disputes, and recently signed a new treaty with Australia on the positioning of US Marines down under.
Is this just a coincidence this photo is out and on the net and getting talked about? Possibly, but even if it is the case that this is just random, I don’t think the policy makers mind too much the connection of this photo with the other actions going in Asia today.
Here is the full pic from Flickr:
