Top Chinese Aircraft Carrier Sighted in Taiwan Strait

The Fujian—which increases Beijing’s firepower on land and sea—passed dangerously close to the sovereign state China would claim as its own.

中国新闻社, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Fujian—which increases Beijing’s firepower on land and sea—passed dangerously close to the sovereign state China would claim as its own.

China sailed its newest and most advanced aircraft carrier through the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, June 23rd, Taipei reported.

According to the Taiwanese defence ministry, it closely monitored the Fujian using “joint intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance methods,” producing a single monochrome aerial view of the ship.

With its flat flight deck and electromagnetic catapults to launch fighter aircraft, the Fuilan is potentially far more powerful than the Chinese navy’s first two Russian-designed carriers, the Liaoning and Shandong.

While Taipei treats the Taiwan Strait as an international waterway, China claims sovereignty over the area. Regional naval tensions continue to bubble up, with Japan’s defence ministry reporting a sighting of the Chinese navy conducting aircraft carrier drills in the Pacific Ocean—close to the eastern Philippines’ Luzon island—earlier this month.