China Deploys Aircraft Carrier to Respond to Japanese Destroyer ‘Provocation’ in Taiwan Strait

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy deployed the aircraft carrier Liaoning to sail through the Taiwan Strait on April 20, marking the first transit of the waterway by a carrier warship since the beginning of the year. The deployment has been assessed to be a response to the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force’s deployment of the Murasame class destroyer JS Ikazuchi to itself transit the strait on April 17, which Beijing referred to as “a deliberate provocation.” The two deployments follow a significant rise in tensions between Tokyo and Beijing, after Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, in November 2025 threatened to intervene militarily in the ongoing conflict between the People’s Republic of China on the Chinese mainland, and the Republic of China based on Taiwan, which have for decades remained in a state of civil war.

The Liaoning is one of three aircraft carries currently in service in the People’s Liberation Army Navy, and was previously deployed to sail near Kubashima Island, west of Okinawa, in early December, in what was considered a direct response to Prime Minister Takaichi’s unprecedented statement. The ship’s operations at the time resulted in a J-15 carrier-based fighter forming a radar lock on a Japanese F-15 fighter over international waters southeast of Okinawa Island on December 6. Reports from media outlets based on Taiwan have indicated that the Japanese military leadership has been highly unsettled, to the point of being “freaked out” in the exact words used in one report, by the results of two engagements between Chinese J-15B and Japanese F-15 fighters that day, as Japan’s U.S.-supplied aircraft proved to be overwhelmingly outmatched. 

The Liaoning and its sister ship the Shandong were revealed in November 2024 to have seen the capabilities of their air wings significantly improved with the integration of new J-15B ‘4+ generation’ fighters and supporting J-15D electronic attack jets. Improvements to the design over older J-15 variants include higher use of more advanced composite materials, use of a more advanced AESA radar, and integration of advanced stealth coatings, and use of some of the world's most sophisticated avionics and electronic warfare systems, making the J-15B a close contender for the title of the world’s most capable pre-fifth generation fighter type. The carrier has consistently been deployed with an escort o Type 055 destroyers and two Type 052D destroyers, the former which is very widely considered to be the world’s premier class of surface combat ship. 

The Liaoning and Shandong have been deployed to stage significant shows of force multiple times since 2022, with the Liaoning in May that year having launched over 100 sorties near U.S. military facilities in Okinawa. In April the following year the Shandong led major exercises near Guam, a central hub of the U.S. military presence in East Asia. The two deployed simultaneously for the first time in the South China Sea in December 2021, while their improving ability to do so beyond the Second Island Chain has demonstrated greater confidence in the fleet. The fleet conducted its first ever dual carrier drills with strike groups operating side by side in November 2024. The Liaoning, Shandong, and China’s newest carrier the Fujian, are widely considered the most capable carriers outside the U.S. Navy, with the Fujian being significantly larger and having a more sophisticated and complex flattop design. The construction of new conventional and nuclear powered supercarriers of similar or larger size to the Fujian is currently in progress.