A Chinese navy aircraft carrier formation recently trained in the waters around Taiwan to improve its ability to safeguard national sovereignty and security, the Communist Party’s military announced, adding that such drills will be regularized.
A spokesman for the navy said on Monday (April 5, 2021) that the training of the Liaoning carrier formation in the waters around Taiwan was a routine training program organized by the navy, but also declared that the Chinese navy would organize similar drills on a regular basis as planned.
The Chinese Navy’s Liaoning aircraft carrier, accompanied by five frigates, sailed through the Miyako Strait toward the Pacific Ocean, the Japanese Defense Ministry said in a release Sunday (April 4). Previously, the Liaoning formation has passed through the Miyako Strait several times into the Pacific Ocean for long-distance training.
However, Chinese media said China’s first new 10,000-ton destroyer, the USS Nanchang, joined the Liaoning carrier formation this time. The official Global Times said the carrier will be equipped with Type 055 destroyers as part of a standardized formation of Chinese carrier battle groups.
China has been stepping up its military intrusion into Taiwan recently, with a record 20 military sorties in a single day on March 26, intruding into Taiwan’s southwestern airspace. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense reported on Monday (April 5) that 10 Chinese military aircraft intruded into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone that day, with one of the aircraft flying over the strategically important Bus Strait (Bashi Channel).
The Bashi Channel is located between Taiwan and the Bataan Islands in the northern Philippines, connecting the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean, and is an important waterway in the first island chain.
The U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet and Japan’s Self-Defense Forces also regularly conduct training exercises in the area of the Bashi Channel and Miyako Strait.
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