Warplanes from the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong, located about 200 nautical miles (370km) east of Taiwan on Sunday, successfully conducted takeoff and landing drills, which local military specialists said could pose a serious threat to eastern Taiwan if a war occurs.
The Ministry of National Defense said it has been tracking the deployment of the Shandong since it departed from Sanya Naval Port in China’s Hainan Province earlier this month.
The aircraft carrier on Wednesday passed through the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan and sailed into the west Pacific, where it was expected to carry out its first long-range training mission in that area, the ministry said.
Photo: Ministry of National Defence via AFP
A military source familiar with the matter yesterday said that a round of drills involving warplanes landing and taking off was held on the Shandong on Sunday as part of a three-day People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercise that began on Saturday in response to a meeting between President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California last week.
Among the 35 Chinese military jets that flew into Taiwan’s southwestern air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Sunday, four of them — all J-15 fighters — took off from the Shandong, the source said.
Asked about the significance of such PLA drills, retired air force lieutenant general Chang Yen-ting (張延廷) said that China’s drills in the Taiwan Strait on the west side of Taiwan and in the Pacific Ocean on the east side are meant to turn the Strait into China’s own inland sea instead of an international waterway.
The drills show that the Shandong aircraft carrier is a serious threat to eastern Taiwan, which the Taiwanese military has traditionally used to preserve and maintain its combat readiness in the event of a full-scale invasion by the PLA, as the region is protected by the central mountain range, Chang said.
As the PLA is now capable of launching attacks from waters east of Taiwan thanks to its new aircraft carrier, it is vital that Taiwan enhance its air defense capabilities and have additional runways in the eastern counties of Hualien and Taitung, he said.
Chieh Chung (揭仲), an associate research fellow at the National Policy Foundation in Taipei, agreed, saying the Shandong is estimated to have the capcity to accommodate 24 to 32 military aircraft.
With the four J-15s taking off from the Shandong and flying into Taiwan’s southwestern ADIZ, the four fighters constitute one tactical flying formation, which poses a “serious and immediate” threat to Taiwan, Chieh said.
Once the Shandong is officially combat ready, China will have two aircraft carrier battle groups to deploy around Taiwan, he said.
This means that the eastern region is facing a significant threat, with Taiwan having few options to protect itself other than its submarines and missile-carrying fighters, Chieh said.
Lin Ying-yu (林穎佑), an assistant professor at Tamkang University’s Institute of Strategic Studies, said the Shandong’s participation in the PLA’s ongoing drills meant that eastern Taiwan is no longer a safe haven for Taiwanese military forces during an invasion.
The PLA’s landing and take-off drills on the Shandong were meant to test its capacities in anti-access/area denial should the US attempt to interfere in a cross-strait war, Lin said.
For Taiwan’s safety, it must boost its submarine forces so that it can work with US forces to stop a PLA invasion, he added.
The Shandong is China’s second aircraft carrier, and the first to be entirely built by its domestic shipbuilding industry. It was commissioned into the PLA Navy on Dec. 17, 2019, in Sanya.
China launched its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, in 2012. The vessel is a refurbished Soviet Kuznetsov-class cruiser carrier purchased in an incomplete state.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
FATALITIES: The storm claimed at least two lives — a female passenger in a truck that was struck by a falling tree and a man who was hit by a utility pole Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris yesterday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the nation in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing winds of 184kph when it slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday, uprooting trees, triggering floods and landslides, and knocking out power as it swept across the nation. A 56-year-old female foreign national died from her injuries after the small truck she was in was struck by a falling tree on Provincial Highway 14A early on Thursday. The second death was reported at 8pm in Taipei on Thursday after a 48-year-old man
RSS