China has conducted its first military drill with the country’s sole aircraft carrier in the disputed South China Sea, the Defence Ministry said yesterday.
Together with other warships and planes, the country’s Liaoning carrier took part in various drills amid an ongoing dispute with neighbouring countries due to overlapping claims to the sea, a key shipping lane believed to be rich in marine and mineral resources.
Several J-15 fighter jets carried out test take-offs and landings on the carrier, state news agency Xinhua reported. The manoeuvre comes days after the Liaoning carrier passed close by Taiwan and a group of islands claimed by Japan.
Beijing claims that it has rights over nearly all of the South China Sea, including the Paracels, east of Danang, and the Spratly Islands to the south.
Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Brunei all have competing claims for areas of the important sea route.
In July, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that Beijing had no legal right to its claim on a large swathe of the area, in a case brought by the Philippines. China did not participate in the arbitration case, and rejected the decision as “null and void.”
A Chinese navy formation, including the aircraft carrier Liaoning (centre), during military drills in the South China Sea.
