Liaoning Ship Launched to Sea to Train Japanese Fighters for “Emergency Lift off Response”

Hong Kong China News Agency, December 20 (Xinhua) According to the Kyodo News Agency of Japan, on the 19th, the Ministry of Supervision of the United Staff of the Ministry of Defense of Japan announced on the 18th that the Chinese naval aircraft carrier Liaoning was found taking off and landing fighter planes and helicopters in the Pacific Ocean south of Okinawa on the 17th. This is the second time this year that the aircraft carrier formation of Liaoning Ship has gone out of the Western Pacific for training.

According to Kyodo News Agency, from around 11:00 on the 17th to around 17:00 on the 17th, the training of Liaoning’s carrier based aircraft lasted about 6 hours. The Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force frigate “Mist Rain” was under surveillance, and the aircraft of the Air Self Defense Force “took off urgently”. According to the report, China may have implemented some kind of training. The Ministry of Defense said that the Liaoning warship and other Chinese warships went down to the Pacific Ocean from the eastern Hainan on the 16th through the sea area between Okinawa and Miyako Island. On the 17th, about 260 kilometers southwest of Chongdadong Island, a total of five ships sailed in formation with two missile destroyers, one frigate and one high-speed combat support ship. According to the news released by the Ministry of Integrated Staff and Supervision of the Ministry of Defense of Japan on the 16th, the escort formation of Liaoning warship includes the 055 destroyer Anshan Ship, Wuxi Ship, 052D destroyer Chengdu Ship, 054A frigate Zaozhuang Ship and a 901 comprehensive replenishment ship Hulun Lake Ship.

Kyodo News Agency said that the Liaoning warship stayed in the Pacific Ocean for about 3 weeks in May this year and about 10 days in December last year. Both took off and landed shipborne fighters.

According to the Japanese Defense Ministry on the 19th, the Chinese survey ship sailed westward about 50 kilometers southeast of Tanegashima at about 3:20 a.m. After entering the adjacent area outside the “territorial sea” from the south of Seed Island, the ship entered the “territorial sea” from the south of Ukushima Island at about 6:50 a.m., then moved within the “territorial sea”, and left from the west of Kouyong Liangbu Island at about 10:00 a.m.

In response to the discovery on the 17th that there were fighter planes and helicopters taking off and landing on a Chinese aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean south of Okinawa, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroshi Matano said at a press conference on the 19th that “it may be intended to improve the aircraft carrier’s operational capability and its operational execution capability in the open sea airspace”.

Matino also mentioned that the Chinese survey ship sailed into the Japanese territorial waters around Ukushima, Kagoshima Prefecture, on the 19th, and stressed that “we will guard and monitor with a high sense of tension”.