Tokyo: Japan’s Defense Ministry said on Friday that China’s aircraft carrier, Liaoning, with a number of support ships, was sighted operating in the Pacific Ocean since last week. The fleet was seen doing sailing exercises and practicing landing aircraft from the deck, about 174 to 634 miles southwest of Okinotori island off the southern coast of Japan.
This marks the strongest Chinese naval deployment to date in the region, and one can say, added fuel to the already simmering tensions between Japan and China. The drills occurred at a time when both sides were still locked in their territorial disputes in the East China Sea and the Pacific. Already, the Japanese Defense Ministry keeps a close eye on the entire situation, worried about China’s heightened naval deployment and its implications for regional security.
These operations form part of a series of the bigger pattern of Chinese naval expansion and military exercises, which have thus far made Japam and its allies react. However, according to Beijing, these operations are just a part of routine training exercises.
Stay tuned for more updates as Japan’s Ministry of Defense continues to shed light on such naval activities.
