On Monday, the Ministry of National Defense of the People’s Republic of China officially reported that the Liaoning aircraft carrier formation conducted the training exercise in waters around Taiwan.
In a statement presented by the Ministry, the Chinese PLA Navy Spokesperson Senior Captain Gao Xiucheng said it was a routine training exercise organized according to the annual work plan to test the troops’ training effectiveness and beef up their capability to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests.
“In the future, the PLA Navy will continue to carry out such exercise and training activities on a regular basis as planned,” said the spokesperson.
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It’s also important to note that Japan’s Defense Ministry announced late Sunday that the Liaoning carrier and five other warships were spotted Saturday sailing south through international waters in the narrow passageway that separates Okinawa’s main island and Miyako Island. The vessels did not enter Japanese waters or its contiguous zone.
In a release, Japan’s Defense Ministry said the Chinese aircraft carrier was escorted by Type 055 destroyer Nanchang (101), Type 052D destroyers Chengdu (120) and Taiyuan (131), Type 054A frigate Huanggang (577), Type 901 fast combat support ship Hulun Lake (965).
