US Navy vessel welcomed in Hong Kong

The USS Blue Ridge, the flagship of the US Seventh Fleet, arrived in Hong Kong on Monday in what is seen as evidence that Washington and Beijing have patched up military ties after a US aircraft carrier was turned away from the territory in November. The Blue Ridge received approval for the visit from China’s Foreign Ministry, the Financial Times reported. Relations between the two nations became strained when Beijing issued a last-minute rejection of an application by the USS Kitty Hawk and its support vessels to spend Thanksgiving in Hong Kong. The decision was later reversed on humanitarian grounds but by then the ships were already on their way to Japan. Despite this sign of a rapprochement, Admiral Timothy Keating, head of US forces in the Asia Pacific, said on Monday it was "troubling" that China’s military assets exceeded the level Beijing defines as necessary for self-defense.