China sails 1st indigenous aircraft carrier through Taiwan Strait
Taipei: China has sent its first domestically manufactured aircraft carrier, known as 002, across the Taiwan Strait, the island’s Ministry of National Defence confirmed. The carrier was closely followed over the weekend by US and Japanese military ships, and came just after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen announced her running mate for the upcoming elections in January 2020, which she will contest as a representative of the ruling and independence Democratic Progressive Party, Efe news reported.
The Ministry confirmed that 002 sailed from north to south with its frigates and the Taiwanese armed forces also deployed their joint monitoring mechanism, which includes surveillance aircraft and other surface vessels to track Chinese ships and try to deter them. “The southbound Chinese vessels stayed on China’s side of the Taiwan’s Strait’s imaginary median line and was closely followed by US Navy’s USG Wayne E. Mayer (DDG 108) and JS Shimakaze (DDG-172) of Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force,” it said on Sunday.
The Chinese vessels entered the Taiwan Strait from the north on Saturday night to conduct a series of maritime tests, and was scheduled to move to the South China Sea, where Beijing is locked in territorial dispute with several Southeast Asian countries. (IANS)