China’s aircraft carrier Shandong launches second far seas drill of the year

With an interval of less than a month, China's aircraft carrier Shandong reportedly launched its second far seas drill of the year on Monday, with experts on Tuesday highlighting the carrier's increasing comprehensive combat capabilities.

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force spotted the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy's aircraft carrier Shandong, a Type 055 guided missile destroyer, a Type 052D guided missile destroyer and a Type 054A guided missile frigate sailing in the West Pacific waters to the south of Miyako Island on Monday, with the Shandong having hosted takeoff and landing operations of fighter jets and helicopters, Japan's Ministry of Defense Joint Staff said in a press release late on Monday.

It marks the aircraft carrier Shandong's second far seas exercise beyond the first island chain this year, observers said.

The first drill took place in the same region from July 9 to 18, according to the Japanese Defense Ministry. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force lost track of the Shandong on July 16, and from July 9 to 15 and July 17 to 18, it counted a total of about 420 aircraft sorties hosted by the PLA Navy carrier.

Fu Qianshao, a Chinese military aviation expert, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the Shandong's drills demonstrate a significant increase in its training intensity, which greatly enhances the aircraft carrier's comprehensive combat capabilities.

Launching a second drill less than a month after the first shows that the aircraft carrier is able to conduct consecutive missions in short intervals, and displays a high level of maintenance capability, observers said.

The West Pacific waters where the Shandong is conducting drill is of strategic significance, analysts said. The area is located in the Philippine Sea to the east of the island of Taiwan, to the northeast of the Philippines, to the south of Japan and to the northwest of Guam.

During the PLA's previous large-scale joint drills around the island of Taiwan, Chinese mainland experts stressed that this area can seal the island off while blocking external reinforcements. During the Shandong's last far seas drills in July amid recent China-Philippines tensions, foreign analysts claimed that the Chinese carrier aimed to deter the Philippines.

Responding to a media query about the Shandong's drill near the Philippines in July, Senior Colonel Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesperson at China's Ministry of National Defense, said on July 12 that the carrier's far seas combat drill was an annual routine arrangement that does not aim at any specific target.

"The PLA Navy will regularly hold similar drills so as to continuously enhance the carrier group's systematic combat capabilities," Zhang said.