China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) deployed military aircraft to conduct an anti-submarine drill over the South China Sea. It also comes at a time when China is emerging from the coronavirus pandemic. Collin Koh a research fellow at NTU’s RSIS, said “This means we can expect to see more such exercises in the future, with no let-up because of the coronavirus. You can also see this as a response not only to the [recent] carrier strike group operations but the intensified US military presence in the South China Sea. And it would not be surprising if a (USA) nuclear attack submarine was in the vicinity of the carrier strike group.”