counsel were Gregory T. Jaeger, United States
Department of Justice, of Washington, DC, and Michelle D. Bernstein, United States
Department of Veterans Affairs, of Washington, DC.

Appealed from: United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims

Judge Mary J. Schoelen
                     NOTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

                                    2007-7066



                       HONG KONG — When the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis and four other American warships sailed into the South China Sea last week for what were described as routine exercises, the message was clear: The United States is the dominant military power in the region and plans to keep it that way.

But numerous Chinese naval ships were operating nearby, the United States Navy said, noticeably more than in past years. A Chinese officer told the state-run news media that the ships were there to “monitor, identify, follow and expel” foreign vessels and aircraft, depending on how close they came “to our islands.”

The encounter, which passed without incident, was the latest episode in a wary standoff between the United States and China over two contested island chains known as