Chinese Shandong carrier strike group ‘sails through Taiwan Strait’ after western Pacific drills

Shandong and escort vessels spotted off northern Taiwan and ‘we have deployed appropriate forces to respond’, island’s defence ministry says
Strait passage comes as Japanese and US forces take part in training exercises near Okinawa, but there is no evidence to link the two

China’s military

Jack Lau

Published: 8:10pm, 9 Nov 2023

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The People’s Liberation Army’s most advanced aircraft carrier sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, Taipei said.

It also marked the first time the Shandong carrier strike group crossed the strait after training in the western Pacific.

Taipei’s defence ministry said the Shandong and its escort vessels had reached waters off northern Taiwan on Thursday morning, after travelling along the strait median line separating mainland China from the island.

“We have deployed appropriate forces to respond,” the ministry said on Thursday, without giving details of the action taken or the number of escort vessels in the carrier group.

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The Shandong is the Chinese military’s second and first domestically made aircraft carrier. It first travelled through the strait in 2019, a week after being commissioned. Its last sailing through the narrow strip of water – home to key shipping lanes – was in June.

The 70,000-tonne warship has sailed near Taiwan at least eight times since April, when it took part in major PLA drills targeting Taiwan. The exercises followed a meeting in California between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and then US House speaker Kevin McCarthy, marking the Shandong’s first manoeuvres in the western Pacific. Beijing, which sees Taiwan as a breakaway province awaiting reunification, regards its exchanges with the United States and other foreign governments as a challenge to its sovereignty.

In September, Taipei’s defence ministry said the Shandong, apparently accompanied by more than a dozen PLA aircraft, had sailed within 60 nautical miles (111km) of Taiwan’s southernmost tip, as the PLA launched drills in the western Pacific.

Responding to the April drills, Taiwanese authorities said it was the first time they had detected the PLA’s J-15 fighter jets entering the island’s air defence identification zone from the east. As the J-15s are designed as shipborne jets, their presence indicated that the Shandong was near Taiwan’s east coast for the drills.

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Taiwan’s western coast is heavily fortified, given its proximity to the mainland coast and PLA bases. But the east is less so, with Taiwan’s central mountain range long believed to act as a natural defence against a cross-strait air attack. However, the Shandong’s presence and intensifying PLA drone patrols around Taiwan’s east coast over the last two years have called into question that natural safeguard.

The PLA has also stepped up military exercises east of Taiwan, which analysts say aim to boost the PLA’s capability to deny access to any foreign military that might come to Taiwan’s aid from US bases in Okinawa or Guam.

Beijing aims for “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan, but has repeatedly refused to rule out taking the island by force if need be. While most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, many are opposed to any use of force by Beijing.

The Japanese defence ministry, which had also been monitoring the Shandong, said the carrier group had been training for about a week to the east of Taiwan and the Philippines before transiting the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday.

PLA helicopters and fighter jets practised take-off and landing operations 570 times between October 28 and November 5, the ministry’s joint staff office said on Tuesday. Escort vessels in the group included the Huangshan, a Type 054A guided-missile frigate, the office said.

PLA aircraft take off from the Shandong flight deck during the drills. Photo: Japan Ministry of Defence

According to the Taiwanese defence ministry, the Shandong carrier strike group sailed through the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the Philippines and entered the western Pacific on October 26.

The strait passage came as Japanese and US forces took part in training exercises near Okinawa. Japan sent four F-15 fighter jets for drills near the archipelago on Tuesday, the US Pacific Air Force said, while the US military sent 26 planes – including two B-52 bombers and eight F-35 jets.

There is no evidence that the Shandong’s passage was related to the drills.