It’s not a provocation. The headline is misleading. The article states where they appeared
Interesting.
It does change the equation a bit, because once those boats submerge, they could be anywhere. China’s ASW capabilities have grown, but hell, WE can’t reliably find Ohio class subs. They’re just too quiet.
Carrier battle groups are flashy, but China has worked long and hard to counter that threat. Now, however, any estimates a Chinese war planner might have regarding the correlation of forces in a particular region are going to be suspect.
They just want to make a port stop and pick up some of those Chinese fireworks:)