Beijing; The Chinese Navy announced on Wednesday that the aircraft carrier Shandong and its battle group have started training in the South China Sea.
According to a WeChat post by the South Sea Fleet of the People's Liberation Army, the purpose of the training was to assess the combat skills of soldiers in war-like situations.
Despite being modified from Liaoning, China's first aircraft carrier built in Soviet times, Shandong is the country's second aircraft carrier and the first to be built domestically. It is based in Sanya in southern Hainan province, and was commissioned into service in the South Sea Fleet in 2019.
China considers aircraft carriers necessary to develop a blue-water navy that can deploy in open waters off its coasts.
According to the South Sea Fleet, training took place at an undisclosed time in early autumn, beginning on 7 August by the lunar calendar.
Few details were provided in a WeChat post and video, but they showed J-15 fighter jets taking off and landing on deck using Shandong's ski-jump ramp. Additionally, the South Sea Fleet claimed to have conducted re-supply training.
Escorting Shandong in the video is Guilin, a Type 052D guided missile destroyer, of the stretched variant. According to PLA media, the version had a longer helicopter deck and an advanced anti-stealth radar system. Chhaganhu, a Type 901 supply ship, was another in the battle group.
The video also featured a Cruiser-class Type 055 stealth guided missile destroyer. The vessel class is considered China's most advanced and is second only to the US Navy's Zumwalt-class stealth ships in terms of full-load displacement, which is approximately 12,000 tonnes (13,200 US tonnes).
Only Yan'an and Dalian, two Type 055 destroyers, are known to be active members of the South Sea Fleet.
The video also shows what appears to be a Type 054A frigate. On Thursday, Southern Theater Command said its Navy pilots had recently been engaged in live-fire training, although it did not say when.
It said that "the Naval Air Force fired tens of missiles and smoothly tested the capabilities of weapons and equipment, as well as the standard of training of soldiers. "The core combat capability of the troops was improved."
Warplanes and drones, including JH-7A fighter-bombers and J-11B fighter jets, can be seen deployed from an undisclosed airbase in images posted by the command on WeChat.
In retaliation for US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to the island, Beijing recently concluded previously unheard-of military exercises against Taiwan. Blocking the island and improving the combat preparedness of troops on the mainland are the main objectives of those exercises.
After a civil war on the mainland, China and Taiwan split in 1949, when the Kuomintang was defeated by Communist Party forces and fled to Taipei.
Beijing considers the island to be part of China and has never prohibited the use of force. Most nations do not recognize Taiwan as an independent state, including the US. However, Washington opposes any attempt to capture the island using force.
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