In rare move, Japan releases map showing Chinese aircraft carrier activities
The Japanese Defense Ministry has made the rare decision to release a map depicting the movements of the Chinese military's two aircraft carriers in recent weeks — an unusual effort apparently aimed at drawing attention to Beijing's naval activities in the Pacific.
China's two operating carriers were spotted conducting simultaneous operations in the Pacific for the first time last week, in what Japanese defense officials have said is a significant expansion of Chinese naval activities.
The ministry released the map late Tuesday detailing the Chinese carriers' positions from May 25 through Monday in order to highlight the unusual duration of their operations. It is rare for the ministry to disclose the movements of foreign warships.
The map shows the Liaoning, China's first aircraft carrier, making a circuitous route that took it through the Miyako Strait, into the Pacific Ocean and ultimately inside the exclusive economic zone of Japan's easternmost Minamitorishima island for the first time before sailing west.
It also shows China's second carrier, the Shandong, entering the Pacific through the Bashi Channel that separates Taiwan and the Philippines before entering the EEZ around Japan's Okinotorishima island and circling the far-flung islet. It also details the carrier's location when fighter jets from the vessel risked collisions with Maritime Self-Defense Force P-3C surveillance planes in two close encounters earlier this month.
A screenshot of a map released by the Japanese Defense Ministry depicting the movements of the Chinese military's two aircraft carriers in recent weeks
As of Tuesday, the two Chinese vessels were in the Pacific sailing toward China.
In a document accompanying the map, the Defense Ministry also detailed that fighter jets and helicopters based on the Chinese aircraft carriers had conducted 520 landings and takeoffs over the nine days through Monday. The Liaoning launched and landed aircraft about 290 times from June 8, while the Shandong saw about 230 such operations from June 9.
At a news conference Friday, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani stressed that Tokyo would seek to highlight Chinese military activities amid concerns that Beijing is seeking to erode the status quo in the area.
'We intend to continue to publicize information obtained through surveillance and monitoring activities in a timely and appropriate manner, demonstrating that Japan is conducting seamless information gathering and surveillance,' Nakatani said. 'This will demonstrate Japan's desire and ability to deter unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or other such actions.'
Japanese defense officials say that China is working to improve the operational capabilities of the two aircraft carriers in the waters and airspace in the Pacific Ocean as part of a strategy that aims to prevent the U.S. and Japanese militaries from intervening in a potential conflict over democratic Taiwan.
China claims the self-ruled island as its own and has vowed to unite it with the mainland, by force if necessary.
Defense ministry officials believe that the recent sailings by the Liaoning and Shandong carriers may have been intended to practice countering U.S. forces in the event of a Taiwan contingency, with one playing the role of a U.S. aircraft carrier and the other practicing intercepting it.
Pointing to the growing threat China's exercises in the areas represent, Gen. Yoshihide Yoshida, chief of staff of the Self-Defense Forces' Joint Staff, told a news conference last week that the moves had triggered concern.
'Our sense of crisis has heightened,' he said.
'We recognize that if we relax the surveillance and monitoring measures ... there is a high possibility that unilateral changes to the status quo could become established facts,' Yoshida said. 'Therefore, we intend to firmly demonstrate our commitment to improving such measures.'
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