Officers of the China Coast Guard (CCG) enforcing law away from the mainland have sent festive greetings to people all over the country before the Spring Festival.
While on duty on and in the waters around Diaoyu Dao, Xisha Qundao, Yongxing Dao of Sansha City, Tiexian Jiao, Xianbin Jiao, Ren'ai Jiao, Huangyan Dao, Zengmu Ansha (China's southernmost territory), as well as in the Yellow Sea waters and the Bohai Sea waters, the CCG officers are set to celebrate the Chinese New Year in various forms.
According to the China Coast Guard, during the Spring Festival period, these vessels will still conduct patrols and surveillance tasks around these strategically important regions, which have been put into the CCG's routinized control system.
The Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, is the grandest traditional holiday for the Chinese people. It falls on Feb. 17 this year.
Law-enforcing coast guards send Chinese New Year greetings from isles
The second U.S. aircraft carrier strike group, USS Gerald R. Ford, is expected to arrive in the Middle East in about one week at the earliest amid tensions with Iran, said a U.S. official on Friday.
Also on Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that the U.S. military would send a second aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East to prepare for a possible military action against Iran if negotiations fail.
Media reports cited two U.S. officials as saying that the military is preparing for the possibility of weeks-long military operation against Iran if Trump gives the order to attack.
The two officials said that, unlike the air strike against Iran's nuclear facilities in June last year, the preparations for this operation are more complex.
They said that if war breaks out, the U.S. military will broaden the targets to include the Iranian government and security agencies, and will also fully assess the scale of possible retaliatory actions by Iran.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has previously said that if the United States attacks Iran, Iran will strike U.S. military bases in the Middle East.
The United States and Iran held indirect talks on Feb 6 in the Omani capital Muscat and the next round of talks are scheduled to take place on Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland. The U.S. delegation will be led by U.S. presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Washington has said any deal with Iran must include a ban on nuclear weapon production, uranium enrichment, the removal of already enriched material, limits on long-range missiles, and a rollback of support for regional proxies.
Iran has maintained that it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons, but it must have the right to peacefully utilize nuclear energy.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi has said that Iran's defensive and missile capabilities will never be the subject of any negotiation.
Second US aircraft carrier expected to arrive in Middle East in about week amid tensions with Iran: official
