China sent its sole aircraft carrier on a training mission into the South China Sea yesterday amid maritime disputes with the Philippines and other neighbors, and tension over its plan to set up an airspace defense zone over waters disputed with Taiwan and Japan.
The Liaoning, bought used from Ukraine and refurbished in China, has conducted more than 100 exercises and experiments since it was commissioned last year, but this is the first time it has been sent to the South China Sea.
The Liaoning left port from the northern city of Qingdao accompanied by two destroyers and two frigates, the Chinese Navy said on an official news Web site.
While there, it will carry out “scientific research, tests and military drills,” the report said.
“This is the first time since the Liaoning entered service that it has carried out long-term drills on the high seas,” it added.
The timing of the drills is bound to raise eyebrows with its neighbors, given the overlapping maritime disputes. China has lodged formal protests with the US and Japan after both criticized its plan to impose new rules on airspace over disputed waters in the East China Sea.
Yesterday, Australia said it had summoned China’s ambassador to express concern over its imposition of the air defense identification zone.
China also claims almost the entire oil and gas-rich South China Sea, conflicting with claims from Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Vietnam.
That dispute is one of the region’s biggest flashpoints amid China’s military buildup and the US strategic “pivot” to Asia.
Though considered decades behind US technology, the Liao-ning represents the Chinese navy’s blue-water ambitions and has been the focus of a campaign to stir patriotism.
Rommel Banlaoi, executive director of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, said he thought the Liaoning was still years away from representing a real threat.
“China is still developing its own model of carrier operations and its technology is [far] behind the United States,” he said.
Previously reported training exercises have mostly been in the Yellow Sea, between China and the Korean Peninsula.
“Obviously the Chinese authorities have been adopting a series of measures to strengthen their claim on the sovereignty of the disputed territories,” said Joseph Cheng (鄭宇碩), a political science professor at City University of Hong Kong.
China’s navy said the mission was routine, adding that the Liao-ning was still in a testing phase.
“This test visit to the South China Sea is part of normal arrangements for testing and training for the Liaoning,” it said.
“Long cross-sea voyages are a necessary stage of experimentation and training to test equipment and troops under continuous work, and different hydrological and meteorological conditions,” it added.
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
RSS