President Obama is wrapping up a three-day trip to Alaska to promote his climate change agenda.

The U.S. has been tracking the flotilla – made up of three combat ships, a resupply ship and an amphibious ship – for days. “We are conscious of the 5 People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) ships in the Bering Sea”, stated Commander Bill Urban, a Pentagon spokesman, confirming a narrative first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

“This would be a first in the vicinity of the Aleutian Islands”.

“We respect the freedom of all nations to operate military vessels in global waters in accordance with worldwide law”.

The U.S. has reportedly been developing possible sanctions against China in response to the cyberattacks, an issue that will no doubt be raised during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington later this month.

“This is the primary time we have now noticed PLAN ships in the Bering Sea”.

“Based on their analysis they have not detected any sort of threat or threatening activities”, said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

The Pentagon official said there were a “variety of opinions” on how to interpret the Chinese ships deployment. “We are not going to be lectured”, he said.

Shorter shipping routes across the Arctic Ocean would save Chinese companies time and money.

China and Russia completed their largest-ever operation together as 22 vessels include warships and submarines drilled in Sea of Japan and the waters near the eastern Russian port city of Vladivostok, according to Fox News. The council’s members are the eight Arctic states: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States.

But in the past few years, it has ventured deep in the Pacific and Indian oceans, and the Mediterranean Sea.

U.S. officials said an uninvited Chinese spy ship observed the Rimpac drills from worldwide waters just off Hawaii.