China sends fighter jets over US destroyers
In yet another show of force in the western Pacific, two Chinese J-15 jets conduct manoeuvres over US Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in apparent bid to deter Taiwan interference.
Chinese fighter jets flew over a US destroyer in the western Pacific in a show of force by Beijing amid an increasing American presence in the region.
The two J-15 carrier-based jets appeared to take off from the Liaoning, China’s first aircraft carrier, before flying over a US Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, state-controlled media showed.
The destroyers, considered the backbone of the US Navy’s fleet, are about 100ft shorter than the Chinese vessel, with a displacement under 10,000 tons.
In the background of the video, a US Arleigh Burke-class destroyer can be seen
China Central Television released the video on Friday without providing further details, but it is possible it took place in the Taiwan Strait. The clip was released to mark the 10th anniversary of the Liaoning being commissioned.
The Liaoning aircraft carrier group recently had an exercise in the western Pacific, a separate report said, where China wants to demonstrate its abilities to prevent the US from coming to the aid of Taiwan in case of an armed attack. Alessio Patalano, associate fellow at the Council on Geostrategy, said the fly-past demonstrated a plan to project an image of an operational carrier force and “one that is trying to normalise its wider activities across the strait of Taiwan”.
He added: “Yet, compared to other past assertive manoeuvres, this one remains relatively composed and careful, indicating that perhaps the public image signalling has higher significance than the strategic one. This would be consistent with Xi Jinping’s ambition not to further destabilise an already precarious relationship ahead of an important party congress.”
The US Navy’s most advanced stealth warship, the USS Zumwalt, arrived in Japan on Monday, in a sign that US hypersonic missiles could be deployed to the western Pacific.
The US Naval Institute said in August the Zumwalt would be upgraded next year to accommodate the Pentagon’s Common-Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB), a weapons system that uses a booster rocket motor to fire missiles at hypersonic speed.
At 610ft long and displacing 16,000 metric tons, the Zumwalt is “the largest and most technologically advanced surface combatant in the world”, it said.
Patalano said the deployment of the USS Zumwalt builds upon a trend whereby the US navy has been systematically sending the bulk of its most advanced surface force to be stationed in Japan. He said the ship was a “laboratory of new technical solutions which will be tested in the most challenging maritime space in international affairs”.
A US Coast Guard ship on a routine patrol in the Bering Sea near Alaska discovered three Chinese and four Russian naval vessels in single formation. The patrol boat came across the ships about 85 miles north of Alaska’s Kiska Island. It observed the vessels break formation and disperse.
Tensions in the Taiwan Strait have soared since Nancy Pelosi, the US House Speaker, visited Taipei last month, triggering a furious response from Beijing, which launched its largest military drills around the island. China claims Taiwan as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to take control of the territory. The two split in 1949 after a civil war in which the Communists took control of China and the losing Nationalists retreated to the island of Taiwan.
The US, which has a security pact with the island to supply it with enough hardware to deter a mainland invasion, has stepped up its support. Congress is mulling the Taiwan Policy Act to boost bilateral ties, while high-ranking US politicians, including lawmakers and governors, have visited the island this year, despite Beijing’s repeated protests.
China has warned the US that it was performing a “highly dangerous trick” over Taiwan and “those playing with fire will get burned”.
Mike Pompeo, former US secretary of state and a potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate, yesterday (Tuesday) told a business forum in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung that the US should move closer to Taiwan. Pompeo arrived in Taipei yesterday (Tuesday), in his second trip this year to the island.
The Times
