Chinese subs to operate that far from their home ports on the mainland, though with this incident that may be changing. Reports claim that the submarine had been undetected until it surfaced. In 2009, Timothy J. Keating, commander of the United States Pacific Command, commented on the issue, stating that the carrier was "in a very relaxed posture. If there were some heightened state of tension, we would, believe me, we would not let them get that close." On 11 January 2007, Kitty Hawk entered a scheduled period of maintenance in Yokosuka, her place being taken by which made an unscheduled deployment three weeks later. This refit is "smaller than the one the ship completed [in 2006]", which took six months. On 5 July 2007, Kitty Hawk pulled in at Sydney, Australia, for six days of shore leave after participating in Exercise Talisman Sabre. On 21 September 2007, Kitty Hawk pulled into Yokosuka, Japan, after a four-month summer deployment. In November 2007, Kitty Hawk and other US Navy ships participated in the joint military exercise Malabar, in the Bay of Bengal. Other nations that took part were Australia, Japan, Singapore and host nation India. Later that month, Kitty Hawk was scheduled to dock at Hong Kong for Thanksgiving. However, China denied entry to Kitty Hawk and the rest of her carrier group. China then reversed its position based on humanitarian grounds but by that time, Kitty Hawk was too far away to dock in time for the holiday. The cause of the Chinese refusal remains unclear. Kitty Hawk was deployed off the coast of China along with two other ships during the Taiwan election on 20 March 2008. After the elections, she entered Hong Kong for the last time. On 28 May 2008, Kitty Hawk departed Japan for the last time, to be replaced in Japan by George Washington. However, during George Washingtons transit of the Pacific Coast of South America en route to the planned turnover with Kitty Hawk in Hawaii, a major fire broke out that led to Washington diverting to San Diego for repairs. This led to the US Navy retaining Kitty Hawk in Hawaii to take part in the RIMPAC 2008 exercises in June and July. On 7 August 2008, Kitty Hawk arrived at NAS North Island. Retirement On 1 December 2005, the United States Navy announced that George Washington would replace Kitty Hawk in 2008