China’s first aircraft carrier has set off for the Western Pacific for an open-sea training exercise, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said.
Chinese state media yesterday said that it is the first time that the Liaoning, which was commissioned by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy in 2012, has headed to “distant sea waters.”
The Western Pacific stretches from China to New Zealand and encompasses countries in the Pacific, Oceania and parts of Asia.
Photo: AFP
The statement said a navy formation, including the Liaoning, set off on Saturday for training in the Western Pacific, without elaborating on the location, as part of an annual training plan.
The exercise takes place at a time of tension between China and the US, the Pacific Ocean’s dominant power, over the sensitive issue of Taiwan.
US president-elect Donald Trump took a congratulatory Dec. 2 telephone call from President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), marking the first time a US president or president-elect has openly spoken to Taiwan’s leader since Washington broke off its formal diplomatic relationship with Taiwan in 1979.
To outrage in Beijing, Trump later suggested he could re-evaluate US policy on Taiwan.
The Liaoning recently completed its first live-fire exercise in the Bohai Sea and the Chinese military on Friday announced it had carried out a series of fighter launch, recovery and air combat exercises slightly farther afield in the Yellow Sea.
On Saturday morning, the Liaoning carried out training in the East China Sea, according to footage shown on state broadcaster China Central Television.
A separate statement from the defense ministry said that several carrier-based fighter jets and helicopters took off one after another and returned after completing an air tactical confrontation and air refueling exercise.
The Japanese Ministry of Defense said it spotted the Liaoning as part of a fleet of eight Chinese warships that included destroyers and frigates, in the central part of the East China Sea for the first time.
It said there was no incursion into Japanese waters.
China has not described specifically how it intends to use the Liaoning, but it is seen as helping reinforce China’s increasingly assertive claims over almost all of the South China Sea, where Taiwan also has claims.
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