BEIJING — China launched a large-scale carrier drill in the South China Sea on Monday involving its Fujian carrier group.
Sources: Reuters, AP, AFP, BBC, Channel News Asia, The South China Morning Post, The Japan Times, Nikkei Asia, CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative
BEIJING — China launched a large-scale carrier drill in the South China Sea on Monday involving its Fujian carrier group and at least 12 accompanying warships, in what state media called a routine exercise but regional defence analysts described as a pointed signal to the Philippines and the United States following their joint naval patrols in the disputed waterway last week.
The People’s Liberation Army Navy announced the exercise in a brief statement, saying it was conducted in accordance with annual training plans and not directed at any specific country. The carrier group transited through the Bashi Channel north of Taiwan before conducting fixed-wing launch and recovery drills in waters south of the Paracel Islands, according to satellite imagery analysed by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The Philippines, which had conducted its first joint patrol with the US Navy in the South China Sea last Thursday, filed a formal protest with Beijing and demanded an explanation for what it called an unnecessarily provocative deployment. The US Seventh Fleet confirmed it was monitoring the situation and said freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea would continue regardless of Chinese military exercises.
Japan’s Self-Defence Forces dispatched a destroyer to track the carrier group, the first time Tokyo has tailed a Chinese carrier in the South China Sea since 2023. Defence Minister Kihara Minoru said the observation was intended to gather information and ensure the exercise did not pose a threat to Japanese shipping lanes.
China’s foreign ministry dismissed the Philippine protest as interference in Chinese internal affairs and warned that foreign naval vessels should not be present in what it called Chinese territorial waters. The ministry said the exercise was scheduled long in advance and had nothing to do with the US-Philippines joint patrol.
The Fujian is China’s third and most advanced carrier, commissioned in 2024 and capable of operating the J-15T fighter jet and helicopter drones. The carrier group included two Type 055 destroyers, considered among the most capable surface combatants in the world, and a Type 901 fleet tanker enabling extended operations at range.
Regional security analysts said the timing of the exercise, 48 hours after the US-Philippines joint patrol, was designed to demonstrate that Beijing can project power in the South China Sea at will and that any joint operations with Washington will be met with a visible Chinese military response. Taiwan’s defence ministry said it was monitoring the carrier group’s movements and that its own naval forces were on heightened alert.
The South China Sea remains one of the world’s most contested maritime territories, with overlapping claims by China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. A ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 found that China’s sweeping claim to the sea had no legal basis, but Beijing has ignored that ruling.
Oil prices rose 1.2 percent on the news before settling, as traders weighed the risk of disruption to one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. The South China Sea carries roughly three trillion dollars in trade annually.
Sources: Reuters, AP, AFP, BBC, Channel News Asia, The South China Morning Post, The Japan Times, Nikkei Asia, CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative
Written by Kenji Tanaka, Asia-Pacific Bureau Chief