China’s Soviet-built aircraft carrier the Liaoning and other People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) warships are to visit Hong Kong to mark the 20th anniversary of its handover from Britain to China next month, with the ships scheduled to navigate through the Taiwan Strait or through waters east of Taiwan, a Hong Kong-based newspaper said yesterday.
A Liaoning carrier group yesterday left Shandong Province’s Qingdao Port to conduct a “trans-regional exercise,” China’s Xinhua news agency said.
In addition to the Liaoning, the group is comprised of the guided-missile destroyers Jinan and Yinchuan and the guided-missile frigate Yantai, as well as other unnamed warships, Xinhua said.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The aircraft carrier group’s naval aviation unit is to comprise of Shenyang J-15 fighters and rotary-wing aircraft, it said.
However, the Xinhua report did not mention any details regarding the exercise area or whether the carrier group plans to anchor in Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong-based Sing Tao Daily said the Liaoning is to visit Hong Kong next month to participate in the ceremony marking Hong Kong’s handover.
Hong Kong residents would be allowed to tour the ships and are being invited to do so to “appreciate China’s national defense capabilities,” it said.
The Liaoning is to arrive in Hong Kong immediately after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) ends his three-day visit to the territory scheduled from Friday through Saturday, the report said.
If the Liaoning is to make a voyage to Hong Kong, it is a virtual certainty that it would sail in a carrier battle group comprised of the warships most suited to showing off China’s military capabilities to the world, Chinese naval expert Li Jie (李杰) was quoted as saying by the Global Times, a China-based newspaper with ties to the Chinese military.
The report said the Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not respond to its request for comment on the movements of the vessels.
The carrier group is likely to have about 10 warships in its formation and the Chinese military is likely to use it to fly the Chinese flag in the South China Sea, Lee told the paper.
In December last year, a naval formation consisting of China’s first and only aircraft carrier and five other vessels sailed through waters east of Taiwan and skirted Pingtung County’s Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) on its way to conduct naval exercises in the South China Sea.
In early January, the Liaoning-led flotilla sailed up the Taiwan Strait on its return from the exercises under monitoring by the Taiwanese military, which gave local media a stream of updates on the whereabouts of the Chinese ships.
The military is keeping a close eye on the Chinese military’s movements in the region and taking necessary precautions, Ministry of National Defense spokesman Major General Chen Chung-chi (陳中吉) said yesterday.
It is a certain that whenever an aircraft carrier is on maneuvers, it will be guarded by escorts and have aircraft on deck, a senior official said, adding that the Liaoning carrier group is a menace to Taiwan regardless of its course.
The military would monitor Chinese movements and be ready to make appropriate responses, the official said.
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