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8h ago

China’s Carriers Advance Beyond US Island Chains in Pacific Drills

Beijing’s first dual-carrier deployment beyond the second island chain underscores its drive to field a blue-water navy by 2035.

China's third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, conducts a maiden sea trials on May 1, 2024.
Image
In early June, the Navy's aircraft carrier formation conducted training in the Western Pacific Ocean. The picture shows the formation's ships conducting voyage replenishment.
In early June, the Navy's aircraft carrier formation conducted training in the Western Pacific. The picture shows the Shandong aircraft carrier launching carrier-based fighter jets.

Overview

  • The Liaoning and Shandong have operated past the second island chain since late May to test their far-sea defenses and joint operational capabilities.
  • This marks the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier has sailed beyond the second island chain, which runs from Guam through the Marianas to Palau and New Guinea.
  • The US island chain strategy, conceived by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles in 1951, relies on allied bases from the Kuril Islands through Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines to Borneo to contain Beijing’s naval reach.
  • Japan’s Defense Ministry lodged formal protests over the carriers’ proximity to its waters and US officials have expressed concern over the challenge to existing regional security lines.
  • Taiwan’s status as an 'unsinkable aircraft carrier,' a term coined by General Douglas MacArthur in 1950, remains central to Washington’s containment strategy against China’s maritime expansion.