2 Chinese aircraft carriers are operating in the Pacific for the first time. Why?
Live Events
(You can now subscribe to our
(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel
Japan this week confirmed that two Chinese aircraft carriers have operated together for the first time in the Pacific, fueling Tokyo's concern about Beijing's rapidly expanding military activity far beyond its borders.Carriers are considered critical to projecting power at a distance. China routinely sends coast guard vessels, warships and warplanes to areas around the disputed East China Sea islands, but now it is going as far as what's called the second-island chain that includes Guam - a U.S. territory. A single Chinese carrier has ventured into the Pacific in the past, but never east of that chain until now.Here's what to know about the latest moves by China, which has the world's largest navy numerically.What happened? Japan's Defense Ministry said the two carriers, the Liaoning and the Shandong, were seen separately but almost simultaneously operating near southern islands in the Pacific for the first time. Both operated in waters off Iwo Jima, about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) south of Tokyo, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said Monday.The Liaoning also sailed inside Japan's exclusive economic zone of Minamitorishima, the country's easternmost island. There was no violation of Japanese territorial waters. Still, Nakatani said Japan has expressed "concern" to the Chinese embassy.Both carriers had warplanes take off and land. Late Wednesday, Japan's Defense Ministry said a Chinese J-15 fighter jet that took off from the Shandong on Saturday chased a Japanese P-3C aircraft on reconnaissance duty in the area and came within an "abnormally close distance" of 45 meters (50 yards).The Chinese jet on Sunday crossed 900 meters (980 yards) in front of the Japanese P-3C, the ministry said, adding it has strongly requested China to take measures to prevent such an "abnormal approach" that could cause accidental collisions.Why is Japan worried? China's military buildup and expanding area of activity have raised tensions in the region.The Chinese carriers sailed past the first-island chain, the Pacific archipelago off the Asian mainland that includes Japan, Taiwan and part of the Philippines. The Liaoning reached farther to the second-island chain, a strategic line extending to Guam, showing China also can challenge Japan's ally, the United States."China apparently aims to elevate its capability of the two aircraft carriers, and to advance its operational capability of the distant sea and airspace," Nakatani said.The defense minister vowed to further strengthen Japan's air defense on remote islands.Japan has been accelerating its military buildup especially since 2022, including counter-strike capability, with long-range cruise missiles as deterrence to China.What does China want? China's navy on Tuesday confirmed the deployments, calling it part of routine training in the western Pacific "to test their capabilities in far seas protection and joint operations." It said the deployment was in compliance with international laws and not targeted at any country.China is pursuing a vast military modernization program including ambitions of a true "blue-water" naval force capable of operating at long ranges for extended periods.Beijing has the world's largest navy numerically but lags far behind the United States in its number of aircraft carriers. China has three, the U.S. 11.Washington's numerical advantage allows it to keep a carrier, currently the USS George Washington, permanently forward-deployed to Japan.The Pentagon has expressed concern over Beijing's focus on building new carriers. Its latest report to Congress on Chinese defense developments noted that it "extends air defense coverage of deployed task groups beyond the range of land-based defenses, enabling operations farther from China's shore."What are the carriers' abilities? The two Chinese carriers currently in the western Pacific employ the older "ski-jump" launch method for aircraft, with a ramp at the end of a short runway to assist planes taking off. China's first carrier, the Liaoning, was a repurposed Soviet ship. The second, the Shandong, was built in China along the Soviet design.Its third carrier, the Fujian, launched in 2022 and is undergoing final sea trials. It is expected to be operational later this year. It is locally designed and built and employs a more modern, electromagnetic-type launch system like those developed and used by the U.S.All three ships are conventionally powered, while all the U.S. carriers are nuclear powered, giving them the ability to operate at much greater range and more power to run advanced systems.Satellite imagery provided to The Associated Press last year indicated China is working on a nuclear propulsion system for its carriers.Any other recent concerns? In August, a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft violated Japan's airspace off the southern prefecture of Nagasaki, and a Chinese survey ship violated Japanese territorial waters off another southern prefecture, Kagoshima. In September, the Liaoning and two destroyers sailed between Japan's westernmost island of Yonaguni - just east of Taiwan - and nearby Iriomote, entering an area just outside Japan's territorial waters where the country has some control over maritime traffic.China routinely sends coast guard vessels and aircraft into waters and airspace surrounding the Japanese-controlled, disputed East China Sea islands to harass Japanese vessels in the area, forcing Japan to scramble jets.Tokyo also worries about China's increased joint military activities with Russia, including joint operations of warplanes or warships around northern and southwestern Japan in recent years.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Mystery Aussie from Sydney bags entire $100m Powerball jackpot, gets tax office warning
Lottery officials' advise to winner Live Events Australian Taxation Office issues warning (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel A search is underway for the Australian who has won Powerball's entire $100m jackpot. Sydneysiders are being urged to check their tickets as the numbers were revealed. According to media reports, the winning numbers in Thursday night's (June 12) draw 1517 were 28, 10, 3, 16, 31, 14 and 21 and the Powerball was to Lottery officials, the individual winner from Sydney claimed the whole division one prize but might not even know it, because they weren't registered and hadn't come forward. "There are 100 million reasons why all Sydney players who had an entry in this week's draw should check their ticket as soon as possible," The Lott spokesperson Matt Hart said in a statement, according to media Lott spokesperson advised the winner to call 131 868 as soon as possible to start claiming their prize. "Someone has become an overnight midweek multi-millionaire but possibly doesn't know it yet," he said. "We can't wait for them to discover this winning news! Just imagine how $100 million might change your life and the lives of your nearest and dearest."Only six people in Australia have won a lotto prize of this size previously, 9 News reported. Another 3,056,245 winning entries across the other divisions took home more than $60 million in Thursday night's Australian Taxation Office (ATO) warned about the potential implications of winning the lottery after one lucky person walked away as the sole jackpot the country closes in on tax time there are a few stipulations worth considering as to how a huge sum of cash like this can affect the winner. "You don't need to declare your winnings to us, and you won't pay tax on them," the tax office said, according to Yahoo Finance. "But, any interest earned on the winnings will need to be included in your assessable income."In the case of the sole winner of the jackpot, if the amount is kept sitting in a savings account with a 5 percent interest rate, an income of around $5 million will be generated in just one year. Come tax time next year, the lottery winner would have to pay tax on that big amount of money.
Economic Times
an hour ago
- Economic Times
With the US slapping tariffs around, international trade is like the Wild West now: Gene M. Grossman
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel The WTO system got blown up starting with the first Trump administration when many appellate body judges stepped down — since every major country can veto appointments, the US vetoed all replacements. That stopped the adjudication of disputes. Currently, many countries — some led by the US — see fit to do what they want and don't abide by WTO agreements . Gene M. Grossman is Jacob Viner Professor of International Economics at Princeton University. Speaking to Srijana Mitra Das, he discusses trade — in the time of Trumpian tariffs:A. I am an international trade economist. I've worked over 46 years on various aspects of trade, from the relationship between it and the environment to links between trade and growth, outsourcing, political economy and the effects of trade policy A. There was a focus on supply chain disturbances as a result of the pandemic — that event made those concerns very salient and there was a lot of thought about how to make supply chains more resilient. This was the topic du jour until the US Presidential election — that turned everything on its head. Now, we are all talking about tariffs.A. No. The US has benefitted enormously from international trade. This is an international regime we set up to serve many of our goals, some economic, some political. It led to the development of a rules-based system and a great deal of liberalisation and while US trade barriers might be a tiny bit less than those in Europe or Japan, the differences are miniscule. Claims about international trade having been unfair to the US are absurd, in my opinion.A. Earlier, we had a system that wasn't perfect but it worked reasonably well — countries made commitments at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and subscribed to policies of other countries. If someone thought another country wasn't abiding by what they promised, they would take their case to a WTO panel and then, an appellate body and a decision would be made. Countries would be asked to change their policies if these weren't in conformance with what they'd promised. It wasn't perfect — there was perhaps a bit of judicial overreach by appellate judges but, by and large, it did discipline what countries were doing and most nations obeyed those rulings, at times, with some foot-dragging. The whole thing got blown up starting with the first Trump administration when many of the appellate body judges stepped down. Since every major country can veto appointments, the US vetoed all replacements until there were only two judges left — three judges are needed to hear a case, so that stopped the adjudication of Biden also did not overturn that. Currently, many countries, some led by the US, see fit to do what they want and don't abide by any agreements. We see the thinnest veneers of excuses made, including national security, emergencies, etc., with no real effort to show those are operative in several US is now slapping trade policies and tariffs all over the place without any attention to the commitments it made in the WTO — that is the Wild West. There is no will to abide by WTO agreements — the organisation has no enforcing abilities and is reduced to sitting on the sidelines now.A. Trade has been a catalyst for the spread of knowledge around the globe — that's been very beneficial to innovation. The limitations on the movements of people through visa tightening and immigration restrictions, and curbs on the movement of goods, will be detrimental to global growth and innovation.A. It has some grain of truth — and a vast overstatement. All the research points to enormous skill-based technological progress in the US. Trade played a strong role in certain industries and locales and mostly benefitted low-income consumers who tend to buy imported goods more than proportionately. The claim that trade is the cause of adverse trends in income distribution is overstated.A. I wouldn't bet against it. It depends on how these trade policies play out — that is anybody's guess, given how they seem to change every few days. I do see the uncertainty, chaos and volatility that's been created as a hindrance to investment. There will be lowered demand as well once these tariffs do hit prices in the stores. So, I'm concerned about a recession at least in the US. If there is enough cooperation, this could be avoided in other countries — however, when a shock hits the system, nations take steps they think will protect them but collectively, they get harmed. I see Europe building barriers, for instance — that could spread. If I were a betting man, I'd say the chances are 50-50.(Views expressed are personal)
The Hindu
2 hours ago
- The Hindu
Japan and China trade blame over Chinese fighter jets flying close to Japanese planes
Japan and China blamed each other on Thursday (June 12, 2025) after Tokyo raised concern that a Chinese fighter jet came dangerously close to Japanese reconnaissance planes. The Chinese fighter jets took off from one of two Chinese aircraft carriers that were operating together for the first time in the Pacific, Japan's Defence Ministry said. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters that Japan conveyed its 'serious concern' to China that such close encounters could cause accidental collisions. According to Japan, a Chinese J-15 fighter jet took off from the Shandong aircraft carrier on Saturday (June 7, 2025) and chased a Japanese P-3C aircraft on reconnaissance duty, coming within an 'abnormally close distance' of 45m for about 40 minutes. A Chinese jet also crossed 900m in front of a Japanese P-3C for about 80 minutes on Sunday (June 8, 2025), the Ministry said. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian defended China's activities as being fully consistent with international law and practices, and blamed Japanese vessels and airplanes for conducting close reconnaissance of China's military activities. The incidents occurred in the Pacific, where Japan's Self-Defence Force spotted the two carriers, the Shandong and the Liaoning, almost simultaneously operating near southern Japanese islands for the first time. Aircraft carriers are critical to projecting power at a distance. China routinely sends coast guard vessels, warships and warplanes around disputed East China Sea islands, but now they also reach as far as Guam, a U.S. Pacific territory with military bases. Both Chinese carriers operated in waters off Iwo Jima, about 1,200km south of Tokyo. The Liaoning also sailed inside Japan's exclusive economic zone near Minamitorishima, the country's easternmost island, Japan's Defence Minister Gen Nakatani said. There was no violation of Japanese territorial waters, he said.
