China’s sole aircraft carrier has arrived at a naval base in China’s Hainan Province, a senior military officer said yesterday, after drills that took it around Taiwan.
Taiwan on Tuesday said that “the threat of our enemies is growing day by day,” as Chinese warships led by the carrier sailed toward Hainan through the disputed South China Sea.
The Chinese drill came amid renewed tension over Taiwan, which China says is ineligible for state-to-state relations, following US president-elect Donald Trump’s telephone call with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) that upset Beijing.
China is deeply suspicious of Tsai, suspecting she wants to push for formal independence, a red line for Beijing which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.
Tsai said she wants to maintain peace with China.
China has given few details of what the Soviet-built Liaoning is up to, save that it is on a routine exercise and complying with international law.
Taiwan has said the aircraft carrier skirted waters outside its air defense identification zone to the east and south and then headed across the top of the South China Sea to Hainan, home to a large Chinese naval base.
“The Liaoning aircraft carrier has reached the Hainan military base. We will continue to monitor its developments,” a senior military official said on condition of anonymity.
China had been testing the carrier’s systems and coordination with other military equipment, the officer said, and its arrival in Hainan did not mean its mission was over.
Chinese state media said the carrier’s likely home base was the northeastern port city of Qingdao.
Speaking at a regular news briefing, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman An Fengshan (安峰山) said China would exert all its efforts to achieve “peaceful reunification.”
“At the same time, our position on maintaining the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is unswerving, and we will never permit Taiwan independence separatist forces to split Taiwan from China in any way or in any name,” he said.
China’s air force conducted long-range drills this month above the East and South China seas that rattled Taiwan and Japan. China said those exercises were also routine.
China claims most of the South China Sea. Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam also have claims.
The Liaoning has taken part in previous exercises, including in the South China Sea, but China is years away from perfecting carrier operations similar to those the US has practised for decades.
MAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report said About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about 1,900 as
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
MORE RESPONSIBILITY: Draftees would be expected to fight alongside professional soldiers, likely requiring the transformation of some training brigades into combat units The armed forces are to start incorporating new conscripts into combined arms brigades this year to enhance combat readiness, the Executive Yuan’s latest policy report said. The new policy would affect Taiwanese men entering the military for their compulsory service, which was extended to one year under reforms by then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2022. The conscripts would be trained to operate machine guns, uncrewed aerial vehicles, anti-tank guided missile launchers and Stinger air defense systems, the report said, adding that the basic training would be lengthened to eight weeks. After basic training, conscripts would be sorted into infantry battalions that would take
DEEP-STRIKE CAPABILITY: The scenario simulated a PLA drill that turned into an assault on Taiwan’s critical infrastructure, with the launchers providing fire support Taiwan yesterday conducted this year’s first military exercises at Longsiang Base in Taichung, demonstrating the newly acquired High Mobility Artillery Rocket System’s (HIMARS) ability to provide fire support and deep-strike capabilities. The scenario simulated an attack on Penghu County, with HIMARS trucks immediately rolling into designated launch areas and firing barrages at the Wangan (望安) and Cimei (七美) islands, simulating the provision of fire support against invading forces. The HIMARS are supposed to “fire and leave,” which would significantly increase personnel and equipment survivability, a military official said. The drill simulated an exercise launched by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern
RSS