Chinese weapons tested in sea drills
BEIJING— A group of Chinese warships led by Beijing’s sole aircraft carrier is testing weapons and equipment in exercises this week in the South China Sea, China’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday. The naval drills of the ships, including the aircraft carrier Liaoning, since last month have unnerved China’s neighbors, especially at a time of heightened strain with self-ruled Taiwan.
BEIJING— A group of Chinese warships led by Beijing’s sole aircraft carrier is testing weapons and equipment in exercises this week in the South China Sea that are going according to plan, China’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
Exercises by the ships, in particular the aircraft carrier Liaoning, since last month have unnerved China’s neighbors, especially at a time of heightened strain with self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own, and given long-running territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
China insists it owns nearly 90 percent of the South China Sea, a claim that is disputed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.
Arbitral ruling
In July, the UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that China’s claim has no basis in international law, in a resounding success for the Philippines, which brought the case to invalidate the Chinese claim and put an end to Beijing’s intrusions into the West Philippine Sea, waters in the South China Sea within Manila’s 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone.
China has rejected the ruling, but the Philippines’ President Duterte is deferring assertion of the decision and instead focusing on improving diplomatic and economic relations with Beijing.
In compliance with int’l law
China says the Soviet-built Liaoning and the other ships conduct routine exercises that comply with international law.
“The Liaoning aircraft carrier group in the South China Sea is carrying out scientific research and training, in accordance with plans,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang told a regular news briefing.
“The purpose is to test the performance of weapons and equipment,” he said.
The People’s Liberation Army Navy said on its official microblog this week that the aircraft carrier conducted drills in the South China Sea with its fighter jets and helicopters.
US patrols
US warships have also been conducting what they call free- dom of navigation patrols through the South China Sea over the past year as concern grows about Chinese construction of airstrips and docks on disputed reefs and islands in the strategic waterway.
The group of Chinese warships sailed through waters south of Japan and then rounded east and south of Taiwan late last month on their way to the southern China province of Hainan.
Taiwan’s defense minister warned at the time that “the threat of our enemies is growing day by day.”
Taiwan media have reported that the Liaoning could sail north up the median line of the Taiwan Strait, the narrow body of water separating Taiwan and China, on its way to its home port of Qingdao.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said the talk about the timing and northward route of the Liaoning was speculation, and it would make preparations based on the situation and “maintain its grasp of the movements” of the ship.
Independence
Business relations between mainland China and Taiwan have grown significantly over the past decade, but tension has increased since the island elected a president from an independence-leaning party last year.
China distrusts President Tsai Ing-wen and has stepped up pressure on her following a protocol-breaking phone call between her and US Presidentelect Donald Trump last month.
Beijing suspects Tsai wants to push for the island’s formal independence, a red line for the mainland, which has never renounced the use of force to bring what it deems a renegade province under its control.
Tsai says she wants to maintain peace with Beijing.