At a press conference on April 5, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Kato Katsushin said that the Japanese Self-Defense Forces had confirmed that a total of six ships, including the Chinese Navy aircraft carrier Liaoning, had passed through the waters between the main island of Okinawa and Miyako Island and entered the Pacific Ocean. We will continue to monitor the movements of Chinese naval vessels in the waters surrounding our country, and will be on guard and monitor them without fail.
Regarding the question of whether this is intended to hold up the U.S.-Japan summit meeting, Kato Katsushin said: “I do not want to comment on the intentions of the Chinese side.
According to the Ministry of Defense of Japan, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) spotted six Chinese naval vessels heading southeast at about 8 a.m. on April 3 in the waters 470 kilometers southwest of the Men and Women Islands in Nagasaki Prefecture, namely the aircraft carrier Liaoning, a Renhai-class guided missile destroyer, two Brigantine III-class guided missile destroyers, a frigate, and a frigate. A frigate, and a combat support ship. According to the Japanese Ministry of Defense’s public footage, in addition to the Liaoning aircraft carrier, the carrier formation also included the Type 055 Nanchang 10,000-ton guided missile destroyer (101 ships), the Type 052D Chengdu and Taiyuan guided missile destroyers (120 and 131 ships, respectively), the Type 054A Huanggang guided missile frigate (577 ships), and the Hulunhu integrated supply ship (965 ships).
On the afternoon of the 4th, Chinese early warning aircraft also flew back and forth between the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
The Japanese Self-Defense Forces sent P-1 and P-3C patrol planes to collect information. The Defense Ministry sees this as part of China’s intensified maritime activities and is closely monitoring its movements.
The Liaoning, China’s first aircraft carrier commissioned in 2012, first entered the Pacific Ocean in 2016. When it passed south between the main island of Okinawa and Miyakojima last April, it was also composed with destroyers and frigates like this one.
The Chinese Navy spokesman, Patrick Gao, said in April last year that according to the annual plan, the Chinese Navy organizes cross-region maneuvers for the Liaoning carrier fleet to sail through the Miyako Strait and other training, which is a routine arrangement within the annual plan and is in line with international law and practice, and that the Chinese Navy will continue to organize similar exercises and training activities on a regular basis as planned to accelerate the enhancement of the carrier fleet The Chinese navy will continue to organize similar exercises and training activities as scheduled in the future to speed up the enhancement of the carrier fleet’s system combat capability.
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