Chinese aircraft carrier the Shandong was detected in waters off northern Taiwan early yesterday after sailing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ministry of National Defense said.
The ministry said in a news release that beginning on Wednesday afternoon, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy Shandong carrier strike group had conducted a northbound transit through the Taiwan Strait on the west side of the median line.
As of 8am yesterday, the strike group had passed through the Strait and was in waters off northern Taiwan as it continued to head north, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
The ministry said it was keeping close tabs on Chinese military activity at all times through its joint intelligence and surveillance systems.
On Oct. 26, the ministry announced that it had detected the Shandong passing through the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan and into the western Pacific.
It also released a black-and-white aerial photograph it captured of the Chinese aircraft carrier that day.
Japan’s Joint Staff Office said in a news release that the Shandong strike group sailed into the South China Sea on Monday, passing through waters between the Philippines and Taiwan.
The release also included each sighting of the strike group.
The Joint Staff Office said that 420 jet fighter launches and recoveries, and 150 helicopter take-offs and landings were detected from the Shandong from Oct. 28 to Sunday.
Japan Air Self Defense Force fighters had been scrambled to monitor the situation, it said.
The Shandong, commissioned in 2019, is China’s second aircraft carrier and the first to be built domestically.
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