BEIJING: The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy showed high confidence and combat preparedness by conducting fighter jet exercises with an aircraft carrier in the South China Sea, despite the stalking attempt of a US warship, which was shadowed by a group of the PLA carrier’s escorts, Chinese military observers said on Sunday, after a video allegedly taken on board the US warship went viral on social media on Saturday.
Allegedly taken by a US Navy sailor, whose ship was allegedly “tracking” the PLA aircraft carrier task group in the South China Sea over the past few days, the video shows a J-15 fighter jet landed steadily on the aircraft carrier Liaoning. The Type 052D destroyer Chengdu and the Type 055 large destroyer Nanchang were seen not far away from the carrier, serving as escorts.
Originally posted on Twitter, the video has become protected and no longer accessible to the general public as of press time, but went viral on Chinese social media on Saturday.
Despite the presence of the US ship, the Liaoning continued its fighter jet exercises as normal, which showed confidence and the adept skills of both sailors and pilots, indicating a high level of combat preparedness, a Chinese military analyst told the Global Times on Sunday, requesting anonymity.
The carrier group allowed the US vessel to view it, and this gave the US a transparent view of the Chinese carrier’s capabilities, the analyst opined, noting that the situation was under complete control and the US ship was not a threat to the Chinese flotilla, because while the US ship was observing the Chinese ships, it was also being closely monitored the other way around. This is not the first time a US warship has recently approached the PLA aircraft carrier. The USS Mustin destroyer followed the Liaoning when it sailed in the Philippine Sea on April 4, a photo released by the US Navy at the time shows.
It is normal for warships and warplanes of different countries to track and monitor each other outside of territorial waters and airspace, as long as they abide by international regulations to prevent collisions, keep safe distances and avoid other accidents, Captain (retired) Tian Shichen, president of the Global Governance Institution think tank and director of the Center for International Law of Military Operations, told the Global Times at the time.
At a time of escalating tensions in the Taiwan Straits, the US military’s repeated attempts of close-in tracking of the Liaoning showed its vigilance on the PLA carrier, and sent wrong signals to Taiwan secessionist forces and other parties, giving them an illusion that the US can militarily contain the PLA on China’s doorsteps, buBEIJING: The civil aviation sector has prepared for a travel rush for the upcoming Labor Day holiday in May, as the sector is coming off a rebound last month.
According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the sector handled 47.6 million passenger trips last month, surpassing the figure in the same period in 2019. It handled 655,000 metric tons of mail and cargo in the same period, an increase of 3.7 percent compared with 2019.
The five-day Labor Day holiday starting on May 1 will be a good time to travel across the country and the demand for civil aviation services will grow significantly, Shang Kejia, deputy director of the administration’s transport department, said at a news conference on Friday. To contain the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Chinese public was encouraged to stay put during the Spring Festival travel rush, which lasted from January to March. The three-day Tomb-Sweeping Day holiday in April saw a rise in travel demand, but Shang said demand during the five-day Labor Day holiday will be stronger. Air travel peaks are expected to fall on April 30, and May 1, 5 and 9, and she suggested travelers avoid those dates for better travel experiences and cheaper air tickets. To cater to domestic travel needs, the administration has encouraged airlines to allocate more resources, such as time slots from unused international lines, to domestic lines.
– The Daily Mail-China Daily News exchange item sts said.
Senior Captain Gao Xiucheng, a PLA Navy spokesperson, announced on April 5 that the Liaoning carrier task group was conducting exercises near the island of Taiwan as a part of annually scheduled regular training.
– The Daily Mail-Global Times News exchange item
