The Ministry of National Defense (MND) has been closely monitoring a Chinese aircraft carrier group which might sail through waters east of Taiwan, the ministry said yesterday.
The ministry said it has been scrutinizing the operations of a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) fleet consisting of China’s first aircraft carrier, the Soviet-built Liaoning, which was heading for the western Pacific Ocean through the Miyako Strait between the Japanese islands of Miyako and Okinawa yesterday on a long-distance open-water training mission.
The fleet consists of seven other vessels — three guided-missile destroyers, three frigates and one supply ship — as well as J-15 fighter aircraft.
“The ministry will closely monitor whether the fleet navigates along Taiwan’s air defense identification zone and travels through the Bashi Channel to join [China’s] South Sea Fleet for a coordinated exercise,” MND spokesman Major General Chen Chung-chi (陳中吉) said.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force has conducted several training missions that have circled Taiwanese airspace over the past few months, causing regional tensions to flare, with Japanese fighters reportedly launching decoy flares at Chinese aircraft as they flew over the Miyako Strait.
“The ministry will take every necessary measure to ensure national security,” Chen added.
Chen did not confirm or deny reports that the ministry might scramble F-16 aircraft based in Hualien to conduct intercept or reconnaissance missions should Chinese aircraft approach Taiwan’s air defense zone, only saying that such responses would be unnecessary if Chinese aircraft stay away from Taiwan’s airspace.
Chen refused to comment on speculation that the fleet’s mission was to send a message to US president-elect Donald Trump over Taiwan’s status.
Trump has questioned the US’ decades-long “one China” policy.
Based in the northern Chinese port of Qingdao, the Liaoning typically sails in the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea. Its current mission is believed to be the first time that a Chinese aircraft carrier has sailed beyond the first island chain to the Pacific Ocean.
The Liaoning aircraft carrier group is to conduct “cross-sea training” on open seas, the Chinese Ministry of Defense said.
The fleet has carried out a series of naval aviation exercises ahead of the scheduled cross-sea voyage, and although China’s defense ministry did not specify the destination, pundits speculated that the carrier group might sail to the disputed South China Sea.
The fleet is also reportedly to conduct an exercise in waters around the contested Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) — known as the Senkakus in Japan — to test Japan’s defense capabilities and response measures. Taiwan, China and Japan all claim the Diaoyutai Islands.
The Liaoning, which was commissioned into the PLAN in September 2012, conducted its first cross-sea training in 2013, in which it entered the South China Sea via the East China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.
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