The Liaoning – Beijing’s first aircraft carrier – and at least three accompanying warships were spotted on Saturday around 300km southwest of Minamitori, a remote Japanese island in the western Pacific, which serves as a bulwark for Tokyo to assert its maritime claims.
The group, which includes two guided-missile destroyers and a fast combat support ship, appeared to be conducting air operations, with fighter jets and helicopters landing on and taking off from the carrier on Sunday, national broadcaster NHK reported. Analysts believe the fleet may have been accompanied by a Chinese submarine.
The manoeuvres mark the first known operation by a Chinese carrier group in a zone long considered a vital part of Japan’s defence boundaries and a key buffer between China and US military outposts, such as those in Guam and Hawaii.
Analysts suggest the fleet is showing its capabilities and reach in a new area targeted at Beijing’s rivals.
“Just a few years ago, China would not have put a naval group into the Pacific, so it is now showing that it is willing and able to do just that,” said Masayuki Masuda, director of Chinese studies at the National Institute of Defence Studies in Tokyo.
