Undermining the confidence of American allies, China will take advantage of the USS George Washington aircraft carrier’s redeployment from the Pacific Ocean to the Middle East. A Chinese state media editorial celebrated on Monday that these “waters have now become a zero-U.S.-carrier zone” and that “the sudden absence of a carrier in the Western Pacific is not an accident. It is a bill coming due.”

Beijing wants Taiwan and U.S. allies in the Philippines and Japan to question whether the United States has the means to defend them, let alone the resolve. It also wants other Pacific states, such as Vietnam and Malaysia, to consider whether strengthening relations with the U.S. is worth provoking Beijing’s anger.