Taiwan’s defense ministry has reported an unprecedented surge in Chinese military aircraft around the self-ruled island, following Beijing’s recent military drills involving the Shandong aircraft carrier. This week, one of China’s aircraft carriers practiced breaking through a strategic Western Pacific choke point, with the United States and a security treaty ally observing the maneuver.
On Thursday, Taiwan’s defense ministry stated that it had detected 66 Chinese military aircraft operating around the island in the past 24 hours, the highest number recorded this year. Among these, 56 aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, entering Taiwan’s northern, southwestern, and southeastern air defense identification zones (ADIZ). Additionally, seven Chinese navy vessels were detected in the vicinity.
The Chinese military drills coincide with a NATO summit in Washington, where a draft communique highlighted China’s role as a significant enabler of Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine and noted Beijing’s continued challenge to European security. As part of the exercises, the Shandong, China’s second operational aircraft carrier, conducted flight operations with its J-15 fighter jets and helicopters in the Philippine Sea. Japan’s Joint Staff Office reported the activity, prompting the Japan Air Self-Defense Force to monitor the movements closely.
Taiwanese Defense Minister Wellington Koo confirmed the carrier’s passage close to the northern Philippines on its way to the drills. This maneuver marks the fourth confirmed presence of the Shandong in the wider Pacific since April last year, with previous instances involving operations in the Philippine Sea from late October to early November.
The Shandong, commissioned in 2019, is a home-built aircraft carrier based on Soviet design, with a displacement of approximately 70,000 tons and equipped with a ski-jump for aircraft launches. It contrasts the U.S. Navy’s 100,000-ton carriers that use aircraft catapults for greater efficiency. The carrier’s recent movements have been partially tracked by the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2A Earth observation satellite since late June.
Taiwan’s RW News reported that the Shandong task group briefly entered the Bashi Channel between southern Taiwan and the northern Philippines before returning to the South China Sea, a maneuver described as unusually short. During the same period, a U.S. Navy MQ-4C Triton maritime surveillance drone was observed circling above waters east of Taiwan, likely monitoring the Shandong formation.
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