Recent drills near Japan reflect China’s ambitions to extend its navy’s reach and exert greater influence, in the Pacific and beyond.
As China girds for a deepening global rivalry with the United States, Beijing is testing how far its navy can operate from home, and how well its warships can work together on the open seas. In recent exercises involving two aircraft carriers, China gave a bold display of how it seeks to assert dominance in the western Pacific.
From late May and for much of June in seas near Japan, the two Chinese carriers — the Liaoning and the Shandong — practiced takeoffs and landings of fighter jets and helicopters, as many as 90 or more times on some days, according to reports from the Japanese military’s joint staff. Each carrier was protected by several warships.
The exercises, which caused Japan to express “serious concerns,” were a template for how China could use a growing collection of aircraft carriers to project armed power into the Pacific and try to overawe Asian neighbors aligned with Washington.
This was the first time that two Chinese carriers had ventured together past the “first island chain” — the barrier of islands east of China that includes the Japanese island of Okinawa, where U.S. Marines are based, and Taiwan — and toward Guam, a U.S. military hub, said Christopher Sharman, the director of the China Maritime Studies Institute at the U.S. Naval War College. Guam is part of what is called the “second island chain,” which stretches from Tokyo to south of Palau.
The Chinese naval activities near or past the second island chain signal that U.S. forces “operating in the vicinity of Guam could be at greater risk,” Mr. Sharman said.
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The Liaoning
The Shandong
Japan
Sea
JAPAN
Yellow
Sea
June 20
CHINA
May 25
Okinawa
June 7
July 3
Hong Kong
June 10
June 7
South
China Sea
Guam
Philippine
Sea
PHILIPPINES
Palau
300 miles
The Shandong
The Liaoning
CHINA
July 3
Hong Kong
PHILIPPINES
May 25
June 20
Okinawa
Philippine
Sea
JAPAN
June 10
Guam
June 7
500 miles
The Shandong
The Liaoning
Japan
Sea
JAPAN
Yellow
Sea
June 20
CHINA
May 25
Okinawa
June 7
July 3
Hong Kong
June 7
June 10
South
China Sea
Guam
Philippine
Sea
PHILIPPINES
Palau
300 miles
These are China’s three aircraft carriers, and how they compare to the world’s largest aircraft carrier.
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Chengdu J-20
to scale
The Liaoning
Brought from Ukraine to China in 2002, this diesel aircraft carrier is a Chinese modernization of an unfinished Soviet vessel.
997 ft long
The Shandong
China’s second carrier is very similar to The Liaoning, also an enhanced Soviet model, with a faster cruising speed of up to 31 knots. Its predecessor could cruise at up to 29 knots.
997 ft
The Fujian
This aircraft carrier enhanced China’s capabilities to launch heavier and larger fixed-wing aircraft. However, like its predecessors, it is diesel powered.
1,037 ft
F-22 Raptor
to scale
The USS Gerald R. Ford
This is currently the largest aircraft carrier in the world, and is nuclear powered. China’s new aircraft carrier is expected to be of a similar length, and may be nuclear powered.
1,106 ft long
Chengdu J-20
to scale
997 ft long
The Liaoning
Brought from Ukraine to China in 2002, this diesel aircraft carrier is a Chinese modernization of an unfinished Soviet vessel.
997 ft
The Shandong
China’s second carrier is very similar to The Liaoning, also an enhanced Soviet model, with a faster cruising speed of up to 31 knots. Its predecessor could cruise at up to 29 knots.
1,037 ft
The Fujian
This aircraft carrier enhanced China’s capabilities to launch heavier and larger fixed-wing aircraft. However, like its predecessors, it is diesel powered.
F-22 Raptor
to scale
1,106 ft long
The USS Gerald R. Ford
This is currently the largest aircraft carrier in the world, and is nuclear powered. China’s new aircraft carrier is expected to be of a similar length, and may be nuclear powered.
