Chinese Carrier Strike Group Sails Through Taiwan Strait - Tailed By Japanese and U.S. Warships

China’s sole fully operational carrier strike group on November 17th sailed through the Taiwan Strait, a major show of force staged in response to a growing Western military presence in the area. The carrier strike group was reportedly tailed by U.S. and Japanese warships, which regularly deploy to the region near China’s coast. The Taiwan Strait separates the Beijing based People’s Republic of China from the territory of the Taipei based Republic of China - the latter which has negligible international recognition and no official statehood at the United Nations. The Western Bloc has nevertheless provided Taipei with considerable material support, with the U.S. recently deploying a small detachment of Marines to the territory and approving high level arms sales to its military. The strait has been a major hotspot for tensions between Beijing and the Western Bloc since 1950, when the U.S. Navy first placed the remnants of the Republic of China under its protection, and a potential site of a major conflict in future.

China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy currently deploys three aircraft carriers, although only one of these, the Liaoning, is fully operational. The warship is deployed under the Navy’s northern fleet, and is seldom deployed as far south as Taiwan. Following refurbishment in late 2018, the carrier’s status as a training ship was revoked and it was designated a fully operational warship. China is expected to deploy seven aircraft carriers by the mid 2020s, which alongside state of the art destroyers currently entering service in fast growing numbers will provide the foundation for a formidable power projection capability. The Navy deployed Type 055 Class destroyers under the northern fleet for the first time in May 2019, the most heavily armed in the world, although it is uncertain wheather any of these ships participated in the strike group’s pass through the Taiwan Strait.