TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Chinese carrier strike group has been conducting military drills in the Western Pacific that simulate attacks on Taiwan and Japan’s Okinawa prefecture since Dec. 16, according to sources for the Yomiuri Shimbun.
The strike group, led by the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning, is operating several hundred miles southwest of Japan’s Kitadaitou Island. The PLAN ships passed into the Western Pacific Ocean through the Miyako Strait on Dec. 15 and began exercises the next day immediately after Japan announced a major military spending boost, according to American Military News.
The Chinese government source said the exercises involve simulated missile launches from type 055 missile destroyers targeting the Ryukyu Island chain and military assets in Okinawa. Japan’s new National Security Strategy calls for new missile systems to be deployed on islands in the region.
Xi Jinping reportedly ordered the exercises with the intention of undermining Japan’s security strategy.
The American Military News report suggests that the Liaoning carrier group conducted exercises in tandem with joint China-Russia naval exercises taking place off the coast of Zhoushan, Zhejiang, which began on Wednesday (Dec. 21). The source said that the Chinese navy used “strategic bombers to simulate a pincer attack on Taiwan from the east and west.”
The joint Russia-China exercises reportedly focus on anti-submarine drills and naval blockade maneuvers.
The drills in the Western Pacific are expected to end on Monday (Dec. 26), while the Russia-China drills near Zhejiang are scheduled to end on Tuesday (Dec. 27).