Chinese aircraft carrier leads large strike group into western Pacific as Taiwan tensions rise
- The Liaoning escorted on ‘routine mission’ by seven warships, including the PLA Navy’s most powerful destroyer
- US Navy strike group training in Philippine Sea means the two flotillas are not too far away from each other
The fleet passed through the Miyako Strait between Japan’s Okinawa islands on Monday afternoon to enter the western Pacific before heading south, Tokyo’s defence ministry said.
The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group is currently deployed in the Philippine Sea, according to US Navy ship tracking information on Monday. This means the Chinese and US carrier groups would possibly not be too far away from each other.
Chinese navy spokesman Gao Xiucheng said the warships were on a “routine training” mission. “It is in line with relevant international laws and practices, and without targeting any party,” Gao said on Tuesday.
This comes just weeks after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) held large-scale naval and air force exercises in the East China Sea, “in response to the recent frequent false signals released by the US on the Taiwan issue”.
Military exercises have been a usual way for the PLA to demonstrate power and resolve whenever tensions simmer over self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing considers a breakaway province to be taken back by force if necessary.
The Liaoning was first spotted by the Japanese in the East China Sea west of Nagasaki on Sunday, when it was leading five other vessels – the Type 055 guided-missile destroyer Nanchang, Type 052D guided-missile destroyers Xining, Urumqi and Chengdu, and Type 901 supply ship Hulunhu.
The group was then joined by the Type 052C guided-missile destroyer Zhengzhou and Type 054A frigate Xiangtan in waters west of the disputed Diaoyu Islands on Monday. The flotilla then sailed through the Miyako Strait, the Japanese Ministry of Defence said.
The Nanchang was part of that drill, as well as another the previous April, suggesting it has become a permanent member of the strike group.
Macau-based military observer Antony Wong Dong said the Miyako Strait, an international waterway in the first island chain east of the Chinese coast, was the Chinese navy’s regular route to access the Pacific. “Therefore Japan also deployed anti-ship missiles in this area,” he noted.
The Liaoning, the PLA Navy’s first aircraft carrier, was launched in 2012 as a “training platform” for troops to operate such a vessel well as for other warships to work in a carrier strike group.
A second Chinese aircraft carrier, the Shandong, entered active service in 2017, while a third is under construction and expected to be launched later this year.