The US just sent 2 US Navy Strike Groups to the South China Sea, including the USS Nimitz and the USS Ronald Reagan. It just so happens to come as China conducts it's own navy drills near the disputed Paracel Islands. Since the coronavirus pandemic, the Chinese Communist Party has been aggressively pushing it's territorial claims in the South China Sea, including actions against Taiwan, Vietnam, and the Philippines. And this is on top of the territorial dispute with India over a disputed border. But was this US freedom of navigation operation a step too far?