China’s only aircraft carrier in service, the Liaoning, is now in the South China Sea for a six-day drill that began on Thursday, state papers have confirmed.
Reuters has also reported that the Liaoning strike group has sailed into waters close to the southern province of Hainan, flanked by 40 other warships and submarines, as seen in a satellite image.
Observers believe these vessels may be from the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s three major fleets, as Beijing wants a variety of vessels from different naval command regions to sail with the Liaoning to hone their inter-fleet interoperability.
Yet it appears that the Chinese carrier has no intention of strutting its stuff in waters troubled by territorial disputes. Chinese papers say the exercise is meant to address the slew of flaws and deficiencies that have been exposed in the years since the inauguration of the ship, which began its PLA Navy service as a refurbished Soviet hull.
Global Times has also noted that to attain a genuine blue-water-navy stature, the PLA’s maritime force still has a lot of catching up to do. One aspect is the evolution from a mixed-combat model to a carrier-oriented one to cope with more missions and voyages in the high seas.
Beijing adopted a dovish tone when the US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, nicknamed “the Big Stick,” arrived in Singapore for a scheduled port visit and R&R this week, and the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered carrier’s strike group has joined forces with warships from allies while en route to the center of the South China Sea.
The strike group includes the guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill and guided-missile destroyer USS Sampson, according to Singapore’s Straits Times newspaper.
Meanwhile, the European Union’s head of security policy, Francois Rivasseau, told The Australian Financial Review that the possibility of European navies conducting “freedom of navigation” patrols in the South China Sea could not be ruled out in the future.
The US, Japan, Australia and India are promoting cooperation through the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, and Britain is reportedly considering sending a warship to the region as well.
Still, a China-US carrier-to-carrier face-off in the South China Sea is highly unlikely given the obvious disparity in capabilities.
Analysts outside China now have a clearer understanding of the Liaoning, after years of observation and a close-up look at the carrier when it was docked in Hong Kong last July.
The consensus appears to be that the Liaoning is more like “a big toy” for symbolic deterrence, a training carrier with deficiencies resulting from its design and retrofit, as well as the Chinese navy’s inexperience in marshaling a modern sea-going strike group, even though PLA generals and sailors are quick learners.
Meanwhile a separate report appeared in the PLA Daily on Thursday saying that the current drill was meant to test “new navigation and communication systems as well as new planes” mounted on the carrier, without providing further details of the new installations.
A commentary that appeared in on the website of China News Service said the focus of the latest Liaoning deployment should be on its fleet of new shipborne fighters, as the J-15, a copycat of the antiquated Soviet-designed Sukhoi Su-33, is a non-starter in wrestling air superiority against the short-takeoff and vertical-landing variant of America’s stealthy F-35s.
People’s Daily revealed earlier this year that the J-31, a twin-engine, mid-size fifth-generation jet fighter, was nearing introduction, with more trials scheduled this year.
“The J-31 can pair up with J-15s and J-20s in the future in tasks of both high and low altitudes, both onshore and offshore,” that report said.
Jason Jean but on that same hand the maps are not from the 11th century. They were drawn up in 1947
china does’t necessary required gun boat at south china sea to counter US in the event of war becouse china had too many Land base ICBM DF26, DF41, hypersonic vehicle which can reach march 10 to 20 and carry multiple nuclear load & the cost are more cheaper than US ship carrier & all the gun boat. further more china loss no human life in this war but this game only gain china in south & easth china sea only becouse it is their territory.
US navy have three fatal accidents last year, with that statistic, they are their own enemy.
No worries… US mounting functional lasers on their ships…and if you think the US can’t stop a missile attack on its Navy…please come an try it. It can be settled very quickly.
It seems to me , that this regions waters are very crowded with navies of a few nations . In the movie " the hunt for Red October " a US carrier Commander comments , to para phrase , with all these war ships ( Russian and American ), in such close quarters , this situation could spin out of control very quickly . And add to the mix all the merchant ships in the area , makes these waters really crowded . Lets hope no live weapons are fired accedently . Any thoughts on the matter are welocmed
N.A. unless you have a background in the Military, which I doubt, your armchair "facts" thrown out here are just plain wrong. Our ships are set up to defend themselves against any airborne/seaborne or land shot missiles, regardless of speed. As for the J-15 vs F/A-18E/F, again you couldn’t be more wrong.
Seems that the space wars potential – is where the action will be…..
Upon this news, the vast majority of the Chinese wumao are now attending the funeral, the death of their ego 😉
International waters
They tell you we don’t have, hahaha
Chinese are pussies, they run away as soon as they see USS Nimitz class aircraft carriers and group of destroyers. Liaoning class of aircraft carriers were manufactured by USA during World War 2, that was 70 years ago. China does not have, and will never have such capabilites as USA, as stealing technology is one thing, and understanding it to use it and better it, is another.
That also applies to the USA so what are they doing in the SC Sea?
Rich Owens F-35 is overhyped and half of them still not ready for combat. Syria shot and damaged one Israeli F-35 with a 60s S-200
Jason Jean …I don’t think I have miss-read the Chinese constitution though I might have miss-read your comment regarding the word election.
The evidence you mentioned of course has been nullified by China’s own law. Either the territorial sea is 12 nautical miles or 1000 NM. It cannot be both. If we use this Chinese law to fight China’s 11 or 9 dash claim, who will win?
Only a fool would think that the author was referring to a collision course ramming contest between carriers.. ?????
Do you know about the new f- 35s aboard.the nimitz and in surrounding areas…j whats ????
So, on the one hand, we can take as evidence: maps showing China claiming the South China Sea since the 11th century, the documentation that the 11-dash line was filed by the Republic of China to the U.N. with no objections in 1946 and adopted by the PRC in 1949. And, on the other hand, we have your obvious misreading of the Chinese constitution.
Chinese ordinary citizens should understand that: the South China Sea does not belong to China, it is not a Chinese territory, nor a Chinese territorial sea, according to Chinese internal laws, not according to my personal opinion. Let me quote from the law published on the following
http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/Law/2007-12/12/content_1383846.htm
"Article 3, The breadth of the territorial sea of the People’s Republic of China is twelve nautical miles, measured from the baselines of the territorial sea."
Accordingly, China’s territorial sea is only 12 nautical miles everywhere along China’s sea coast. By implication China’s territorial sea does not extend to 13 nautical miles, nor to a 1000 nautical mises into the entire South China Sea which borders on Indonesia.
But the Chinese Destroyers and Frigates have supersonic anti-ship missiles that the US do not posses and on top of that the J-15 is superior than the US F-18s
Yawn! Gunboat diplomacy is so passe in this days of precision missiles.