China Deploys Aircraft Carrier to Disputed South China Sea
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By
JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZDEC. 27, 2016
Photo
Fighter jets on the deck of China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier during military drills in the Bohai Sea, off China’s northeast coast, this month. Credit Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
BEIJING — The Chinese military, in a move analysts described as a challenge to President-elect
Donald J. Trump’s strident criticism of
China, has
deployed an aircraft carrier to patrol the contested
South China Sea, officials said on Tuesday.
The ship, which is known as
the Liaoning and is China’s first and only aircraft carrier, was spotted leading five other Chinese warships this week in patrols near the coasts of Taiwan and Japan. China claims the South China Sea as its own despite objections from neighboring countries and the United States.
Chinese military experts called the deployment of the Liaoning a long-overdue challenge to American military dominance in the Pacific. Several said the move appeared aimed at testing Mr. Trump, who has antagonized Beijing with acerbic words and actions on issues like Taiwan, trade and North Korea.
“The message is: ‘If you test our bottom line, we’ll play that game too,’” said Ni Lexiong, a naval expert at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law.
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The decision by Beijing to deploy the carrier group seemed likely to complicate an increasingly fractious relationship between China and the United States.
Nowhere are those tensions more on display than in the South China Sea, where American forces have resisted
China’s efforts to build artificial islands and military outposts as part of its efforts to assert greater control over the sea, a major commercial waterway.
In the weeks since Mr. Trump’s election, Beijing has increased pressure on the United States, placing weapons on disputed islands and seizing an underwater United States Navy drone from international waters.
Chinese officials appear to be emboldened by Mr. Trump’s pledge to focus on domestic issues and his ambivalence toward
the One China principle, an understanding between the United States and China that has underpinned relations for decades.
“The mission is to signal to neighbors that Beijing will set the security table in East Asian waters, and that not even President Donald Trump can reverse that trend,” Patrick M. Cronin, a senior director at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington think tank, said in an email.
Chinese officials played down the significance of the Liaoning’s journey, saying the ships were taking part in annual training exercises.
“The Liaoning aircraft carrier is entitled to the freedom of navigation and overflight under international law,” Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a news conference on Monday. “We hope that all parties will respect this.”
Photo
A Chinese H-6K bomber patrolling the islands and reefs of the South China Sea. Credit Liu Rui/Xinhua, via Associated Press
Officials in Taiwan and Japan said that the warships were spotted patrolling their coasts over the past several days. Taiwanese officials said the Liaoning came within 90 nautical miles of the southern tip of the island before entering the South China Sea. Japanese officials said the ships were seen near the shores of Okinawa, in the Pacific Ocean.
Many people in China cheered the deployment of the Liaoning, a discarded vessel bought from Ukraine in 1998 and refurbished by the Chinese Navy.
While the Liaoning lacks the capabilities of its American counterparts, it is a symbol of national pride for the government, which is in the midst of an effort to vastly upgrade its military capacity to meet its ambition of projecting strength far from Beijing. Officials have announced plans for a second aircraft carrier and other high-tech weapons.
Some commentators in China seized the moment to call on officials to send the Liaoning closer to American shores.
“Aircraft carriers are strategic tools which should be used to show China’s strength to the world and shape the outside world’s attitude toward China,” an editorial in Global Times, a state-run newspaper that often adopts a nationalistic tone, said on Sunday. “As China’s only aircraft carrier fleet now, it should have the ability and courage to sail further.”
The Department of Defense declined to directly address China’s movements in the South China Sea.
“We continue to observe a range of ongoing Chinese military activity in the region,” Cmdr. Gary Ross, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said in a statement on Tuesday. “The United States recognizes the rights, freedoms and lawful uses of the sea and airspace guaranteed to all countries in accordance with international law.”
In Taiwan, officials called for caution. Many residents worry that China is seeking to punish Taiwan for Mr. Trump’s actions. He surprised officials in Beijing when he took a call from President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, breaking from decades of diplomatic practice. More recently, he
suggested he might abandon the One China principle, prompting sharp rebukes from Beijing.
In
a speech on Tuesday, Taiwan’s defense minister, Feng Shih-kuan, spoke about the dangers facing the island and urged more training for Taiwanese soldiers. “The threat of our enemies is growing day by day,” he said, according to Reuters.
As China looks to expand its power in the South China Sea, some experts argue that it risks antagonizing nearby countries, potentially pushing them to form stronger alliances with the United States.
“As China’s military power grows, the fear is that so, too, will its appetite for regional hegemony,” said Mr. Cronin of the Center for a New American Security. “Thus China’s coercion will impose yet new costs on Beijing.”
Still, others note China’s ability to win allies in the region through its economic might, and they point to the shifting allegiances of countries like the Philippines, an American ally that has
warmed up to Beijing in recent months.
Xu Guangyu, a retired major general in the People’s Liberation Army, said China’s decision to deploy aircraft carriers in faraway waters and to expand its military were natural developments for a country of China’s stature.
“People in other countries should rest assured that China will not interfere in other country’s affairs like the U.S.,” he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/world/asia/south-china-sea-trump.html?_r=0
Now it is deployed into the conflict area.
Any comment?
Here is some more about j-15 from IDRW website.
Chinese aircraft carrier has major weaknesses: China Youth Daily
Published December 8, 2013 | By admin
SOURCE: CNA
By sending its first aircraft carrier to the South China Sea, Beijing aims at more effective control over disputed islands in the region, but the vessel has five major weaknesses that make it unable to match up against US carriers, according to a Nov. 6 report in a Chinese state-run newspaper.
The China Youth Daily said that training in the South China Sea, where the Liaoning aircraft carrier headed for the first time Nov. 26, will allow it and other vessels to get more familiar with the maritime environment that is expected to become their main area of operation, but it will be some time before the Liaoning is combat-ready due to five major weaknesses, the official newspaper of the Communist Youth League of China said, listing them in order.
First, the Liaoning relies on Russian technology that limits the ship’s range and usefulness in open sea; Secondly, the carrier cannot match the capabilities of US aircraft carriers, which can launch unmanned fighters with a range of up to 200 nautical miles; The electronics and weapons systems of the Liaoning and its J-15 fighter jets are far inferior to American carriers and their F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets, and the US carriers also boast E-2 Hawkeye early warning aircraft with a flying altitude and range that outclasses the Liaoning’s Kamov KA-31 helicopter; Lastly, the paper said that China does not yet have a large-size battle group centered around the Liaoning, and the ability of its warships to take part in coordinated fighting is not yet mature.
Of course Liaoning is no match US supercarrier.
But when compared to INS Vikramaditya, smart people knows the answer
According to the analysis of military experts, since the J-15 is newly-developed, its electronic equipment is very likely to be
one generation ahead of the J-11, and is definitely far superior to the Su-33, which is equipped with lagging inverse Cassegrain antenna. It is very likely that the
J-15 carries electronic equipment that meets the standards of a fifth generation fighter, and reaches the level of the U.S. F/A-18E/F in this respect.
In terms of its performance compared to other carrier-based aircraft in service around the world, Yin Zhuo said that the J-15 capabilities are high. For instance, it reaches a similar level to the U.S. F/A-18C/D "Super Hornet". While overall it is slightly inferior to the F/A-18E/F, it has better performance in air combat. Its ability to attack land and sea-based targets is lower than the F/A-18E/F, but it is at least equal to, and perhaps slightly better than, India's Mig-29K.
http://en.people.cn/90786/8395630.html
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