Shandong carrier strike group heads to South China Sea after drills near Japan
A Chinese carrier strike group has headed for the South China Sea after completing a week-long drill near Japan’s waters, according to the Japanese Defence Ministry.
The ministry said the carrier was seen conducting ship-borne aircraft operations in the Pacific south of Japan’s Miyako Island and east of the Philippines’ Luzon Island for about a week from October 28.
The Shandong practised 570 ship-based aircraft take-offs and landings – most of them involving J-15 fighter jets, the ministry said. Helicopters were also put through their paces during the week-long exercise, according to the ministry.
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China launches the Fujian, the PLA Navy’s 3rd aircraft carrier
China launches the Fujian, the PLA Navy’s 3rd aircraft carrier
At the nearest point the ships were about 430km (267 miles) from Miyako Island. After the exercise, the carrier group turned west into the Bashi Channel between Luzon and Taiwan, sailing towards the South China Sea on Monday, it said.
The exercise took place as Japan and the Philippines began negotiations for a defence pact to deal with maritime tension with China.
The agreement would also allow other security activities between the Philippines and Japan, including joint patrols in the South China Sea.
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If finalised, it would be the most significant boost in the alliance of Japan and the Philippines in decades.
It comes after a series of tense confrontations between Chinese and Philippine coastguard and naval ships.
Japan and the Philippines, as well as the United States, were cooperating “to protect the freedom” of the South China Sea, Kishida said.
On Monday, Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said he hoped the agreement could be reached “at the soonest possible time”, as both countries had maritime territorial disputes with China.
“We look forward to this reciprocal access agreement between both our countries given the commitment of the Japanese government and the Philippine government to preserve the rules-based international order and international law,” he said.
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Philippines accuses Chinese coastguard of firing water cannons at its vessels in disputed waters
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He added the US was helping the Philippine government “in hardening its defensive posture to include its assertion of its legitimate rights” in the South China Sea, where it had great overlapping claims with the Chinese.
Japanese observers photographed the Shandong travelling with a larger-than-usual escort fleet: the Type 055 destroyers Dalian and Yanan, the Type 052D destroyers Suzhou, Guilin and Changsha, the Type 054A frigates Zhoushan, Xuchang and Huangshan, and the Type 901 fast combat support ship Chaganhu.
The exercise was the Shandong group’s third training run in the western Pacific this year – the first was in April and the second in September.
Japan sent three warships to monitor the Shandong carrier group exercise and scrambled its fighters in response to take-offs and landings of its aircraft, it added.
Hong Kong forum on US-China ties seeks ‘optimistic’ tone ahead of APEC summit
Organizers of this week’s forum on US-China relations in Hong Kong hope to create an “optimistic” tone ahead of an APEC summit in San Francisco, where the leaders of the two nations are expected to meet.
The Hong Kong Forum on US-China Relations, which runs Thursday and Friday, will feature video remarks by ambassadors of both countries, former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and two Nobel Peace Prize laureates.
“The [forum’s] timing was deliberate, so that we could help craft a tone, hopefully an optimistic one … before APEC begins,” said James Chau, president of co-organizer the China-United States Exchange Foundation.
Washington earlier said United States President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping were expected to meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco that begins on November 15.
Hong Kong will send finance chief Paul Chan Mo-po after city leader John Lee Ka-chiu said he could not attend due to a scheduling conflict.
Will city leader’s APEC absence take heat off Hong Kong amid US-China friction?
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