Beijing — The US’s allies in Asia were silent on Wednesday over confusion about a US aircraft carrier group that was supposed to be headed towards North Korea in a show of force, but was actually completing training exercises in Australia. But many Chinese took to social media to joke about it. "American imperialism is a paper tiger," said one user on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter. "The aircraft carrier was sleep-walking," said another. The US military’s Pacific Command explained on Tuesday that the Carl Vinson strike group first had to complete a shorter-than-initially planned period of training with Australia. But it was now "proceeding to the Western Pacific as ordered", it said. US President Donald Trump said last week that he had ordered the strike group to head for Korean waters amid talk that unpredictable North Korea was likely to conduct a nuclear or long-range ballistic missile test. "We cannot comment on details of US operation of its assets," a military official said...
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