The Chinese Carrier will confront the USS George Washington Carrier which is currently in the same waters.


Selfishly, Greedily China: Sends Aircraft Carrier To SCS For ‘Training’

It’s rather ironic that while most of the region’s super power are rushing their aircraft carriers to support Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operation in the Philippines where several parts of its islands were badly hit by the super typhoon Haiyan, China, as selfishly as always, is sending its only aircraft carrier, the CNS Liaoning to the South China Sea as part of its ‘training cruise’ to to test the Liaoning’s crew and equipment over long distances and a variety of sea conditions.

The country’s sole aircraft carrier has departed for its first-ever sea trials in the South China Sea, a mission likely to draw scrutiny amid Beijing’s drive to assert its claims to those waters and their island groups.

It said the ship was accompanied by two destroyers and two missile cruisers — elements of a standard aircraft carrier battle group — when it left its northern home port of Qingdao. The Liaoning has launched and recovered jet fighters but not yet been given its full complement of aircraft.

Since entering service last year, the carrier has conducted several rounds of sea trials in the relatively tranquil waters off China’s northeast coast. State media reports on November 26 said the navy wanted to submit it to more trying conditions.

“It is hard to find an ideal area for the mission, except for the South China Sea,” the China Daily newspaper quoted Maj. Gen. Yin Zhuo, a frequent spokesman on military affairs, as saying.

China says the South China Sea, its islands and potential mineral wealth belong to it, and has increasingly developed civilian and military outposts there and used its coast guard to confront the ships of other nations that also claim parts of the sea.

Yin said a cruise of up to two months was necessary to conduct proper sea trials, and would include the launching of fighters under difficult weather conditions.

Chinese navy ships on their way to the South China Sea have increasingly transited through the Miyako Strait in Japan’s Okinawa island chain. While the strait is an international waterway, Japan’s military pays close attention to the Chinese navy’s activities in the area.

The Liaoning was bought from Ukraine more than a decade ago and extensively refurbished before entering service last year. At 57,000 tons, the ship is a little over half the size of the US Navy’s Nimitz class super carriers.

China has described the carrier as an experimental platform but hasn’t said whether it will play an active service role. The lengthy refurbishment was seen as a learning exercise for China’s own future carriers, now believed to be under construction near Shanghai.

While the Lioaning set sail to the South China Sea, Japan’s flat top destroyer, JDS Ise, Britain’s HMS Illustrious and the US Navy’s USS George Washington are being put to good use to help the victims of super typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. Their helicopter complements are instrumental in conveying reliefs and transporting the much needed water supplies as well as other related equipment to the badly hit areas.

The Lioaning deployment is a testament that China doesn’t care much about anything else surrounding it other than its thirst and lust for more wealth and expanding its influence in the region. Let’s just hope that the J-15 naval fighters doesn’t stray into somebody else’s airspace.

This time, they’ll be sending aircraft carrier. Who knows next time there’ll be unilaterally declared Air Defence Identification Zone in this region just like what they’ve did in East China Sea recently.


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US is still stronger. China could lose its only carrier if they dare to face the US navy.
However its striking to see how China acts. Just imagine how things would be if China surpasses US in terms of military might.