Hong Kong. December 19. INTERFAX - A group of ships of the Chinese Navy, led by the first Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning, is making the transition to the Pacific Ocean for subsequent exercises, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Sunday.
Earlier this week, the group passed through the Miyako Strait, separating the Japanese islands of Miyako and Okinawa. The flotilla, which is not a full-fledged carrier strike group, in addition to the aircraft carrier, includes a type 055 destroyer, a type 054 frigate and a Hulun Lake supply ship.
Meanwhile, according to the publication, the US aircraft carrier group led by the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan is returning from the Pacific Ocean to its home port in Yokosuka (Japan), and the group led by the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson is now in the Indian Ocean off the northwest coast of Australia.
SCMP recalls that at the moment the Chinese Navy has two aircraft carriers, the construction of the third is close to completion. Chinese carrier strike groups are designed to operate outside the "first island line", which runs from Japan to the Malay Peninsula and includes Taiwan. The task of these groups, the SCMP notes, is to prevent the intervention of foreign forces in the event of Beijing's operation against Taiwan.
Earlier, the PRC command placed a universal landing ship type 075 (helicopter carrier) in the area of responsibility of the Southern Command of the PLA Theater of Operations; the second such ship should be placed under the command of the Eastern Command of the Theater of Operations, which monitors the situation in the Taiwan Strait. SCMP notes that such a ship can become a support for strikes by the first echelon of the PLA units in the region.
