Chinese Warships Sailing Toward Sensitive Strait Amid Tensions: Taiwan

Taipei said Wednesday it had detected a Chinese aircraft carrier group sailing towards waters separating Taiwan and China, a day after Beijing held a live-fire exercise near the self-ruled island.

China considers Taiwan to be part of its territory and has ramped up military activity around the island in recent years to pressure Taipei into accepting its claims of sovereignty.

The Liaoning aircraft carrier group was spotted overnight in waters near the Taipei-administered Pratas Islands, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) southwest of Taiwan, and heading north towards the sensitive Taiwan Strait.  

Chinese navy vessels "led by the aircraft carrier Liaoning, sailed through waters near Dongsha (the Pratas Islands) and continued northward toward the Taiwan Strait," Taiwan's defence ministry said in a statement on the social media platform X.

Taiwan's military "monitored the situation and responded accordingly", the ministry said.

The Liaoning took part in China's large-scale military drills around Taiwan last week that were condemned by Taipei and its key backer Washington.

China sent a record number of fighter jets as well as warships to encircle Taiwan in what Beijing said was a "stern warning to the separatist acts of 'Taiwan Independence' forces".

That was followed by an announcement that China would hold a live-fire exercise on Tuesday in an area about 105 kilometres from Taiwan.

Over the weekend, a US and a Canadian warship passed through the 180-kilometre Taiwan Strait, part of regular passages by Washington and its allies meant to reinforce its status as an international waterway.

Beijing condemned the passage as disrupting "peace and stability" in the strait.

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