China continued to flex its muscles in the South China Sea (SCS), with its first aircraft carrier conducting exercises in the disputed area with a flotilla of naval ships amid tensions with the US following President-elect Donald Trump’s telephone call to the Taiwanese President.
A naval formation consisting of aircraft carrier liaoning has conducted take-off and landing drills in the SCS on Monday, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted an official as saying.
The formation, which is on a “cross-sea area” training exercise, involved J-15 fighter jets, as well as several ship-borne helicopters, the official said without mentioning specific numbers.
Complex hydrological and meteorological conditions in the SCS, as well as a cold front in the area, have posed some challenges, but the drill provided important experience in the build-up of combat capability of the aircraft carrier formation, he said.
Chinese officials also say that the carrier is conducting a series of exercises to test its systems and to work out an appropriate formation of ships and submarines to move along with it. liaoning, a refit of a Soviet-era warship, has been pressed into exercises in the middle of last month during which it conducted maiden live fire drills on a massive scale along with a host of naval ships, aircraft and submarines, four years after it was commissioned. China is currently building its second aircraft carrier.