Chinese carrier enters South China Sea
amid renewed tension
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[December 26, 2016]
By J.R. Wu
TAIPEI (Reuters) - A group of Chinese
warships led by the country's sole aircraft carrier entered the top half
of the South China Sea on Monday after passing south of Taiwan, the
self-ruled island's Defense Ministry said of what China has termed a
routine exercise.
The move comes amid renewed tension over Taiwan, which Beijing claims as
its own, ineligible for state-to-state relations, following U.S.
President-elect Donald Trump's telephone call with the island's
president that upset Beijing.
The Soviet-built Liaoning aircraft carrier has taken part in previous
exercises, including some in the South China Sea, but China is years
away from perfecting carrier operations similar to those the United
States has practiced for decades.
Taiwan's Defense Ministry said the carrier, accompanied by five vessels,
passed southeast of the Pratas Islands, which are controlled by Taiwan,
heading southwest.
The carrier group earlier passed 90 nautical miles south of Taiwan's
southernmost point via the Bashi Channel, between Taiwan and the
Philippines.
"Staying vigilant and flexible has always been the normal method of
maintaining airspace security," said ministry spokesman Chen Chung-chi,
declining to say whether Taiwan fighter jets were scrambled or if
submarines had been deployed.
Chen said the ministry was continuing to "monitor and grasp the
situation".
Senior Taiwan opposition Nationalist lawmaker Johnny Chiang said the
Liaoning exercise was China's signal to the United States that it has
broken through the "first island chain", an area that includes Japan's
Ryukyu Islands and Taiwan.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said
people should not read too much into what the carrier was up to, as its
movements were within the law.
"Our Liaoning should enjoy in accordance with the law freedom of
navigation and overflight as set by international law, and we hope all
sides can respect this right of China's," she told a daily news
briefing.
Influential state-run Chinese tabloid the Global Times said the exercise
showed how the carrier was improving its combat capabilities and that it
should now sail even further afield.
"The Chinese fleet will cruise to the Eastern Pacific sooner or later.
When China's aircraft carrier fleet appears in offshore areas of the
U.S. one day, it will trigger intense thinking about maritime rules,"
the newspaper said in an editorial.
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China's Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier Liaoning sails the water in
East China Sea, in this handout photo taken December 25, 2016 by
Japan Self-Defence Force and released by the Joint Staff Office of
the Defense Ministry of Japan. Joint Staff Office of the Defense
Ministry of Japan/HANDOUT via REUTERS
China has been angered recently by U.S. naval patrols near islands that
China claims in the South China Sea. This month, a Chinese navy ship
seized a U.S. underwater drone in the South China Sea. China later
returned it.
Japan said late on Sunday it had spotted six Chinese naval vessels
including the Liaoning traveling through the passage between Miyako and
Okinawa and into the Pacific.
Japan's top government spokesman said on Monday the voyage showed
China's expanding military capability and Japan was closely monitoring
it.
China's air force conducted long-range drills this month above the East
and South China Seas that rattled Japan and Taiwan. China said those
exercises were also routine.
Last December, the defense ministry confirmed China was building a
second aircraft carrier but its launch date is unclear. The aircraft
carrier program is a state secret.
Beijing could build multiple aircraft carriers over the next 15 years,
the Pentagon said in a report last year.
China claims most of the South China Sea through which about $5 trillion
in ship-borne trade passes every year. Neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.
(Additional reporting by Kiyoshi Takanaka in Tokyo and Ben Blanchard in
Beijing; Editing by Robert Birsel and Nick Macfie)
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