China’s sole aircraft carrier conducted drills in the South China Sea, the Chinese navy confirmed, days after Taiwan said the carrier and accompanying ships had passed 90 nautical miles (166km) south of Taiwan amid renewed tension between the two sides.
The Soviet-built Liaoning aircraft carrier and accompanying warships sailed round the east coast of Taiwan in what China called a routine exercise complying with international law.
The carrier’s Shenyang J-15 fighter aircraft conducted flight exercises in “complex sea conditions” on Monday, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy said on its official microblog late the same day.
The carrier group also conducted helicopter exercises, it said, but did not give details on the exact location.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which about US$5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam also have claims.
The drills also come at a time of heightened strain with Taiwan following US president-elect Donald Trump’s telephone call with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
Last month China conducted its first ever live-fire drills using an aircraft carrier close to South Korea and announced on Wednesday last week that the Liaoning and its accompanying fleet would carry out what it called routine exercises in the Western Pacific.
The Ministry of National Defense on Thursday last week said that the Liaoning and five accompanying ships had entered the top half of the South China Sea after passing south of Taiwan and later docked at a base on China’s Hainan Island.
The flotilla raised alarm in Japan when it sailed between the Japanese islands of Miyako and Okinawa.
Japan said one of its Maritime Self-Defense Force ships and a Lockheed P-3 Orion had spotted six Chinese naval vessels including the Liaoning traveling through the passage, and they also scrambled jets after a helicopter that took off from a Chinese frigate flew near Miyako Island.
China has been angered recently by US naval patrols near islands that China claims in the South China Sea. This month, a Chinese navy ship seized a US underwater drone in the South China Sea. China later returned it.
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