Chinese Navy conducts training in Western Pacific

China has sent its two carrier strike groups to the Western Pacific Ocean to carry out training operations, a spokesman for the People's Liberation Army Navy said on Tuesday.

Senior Captain Wang Xuemeng said in Beijing that the strike groups, led by the CNS Liaoning and CNS Shandong, have been training in the Western Pacific to test their forces' open-sea defense and joint combat capabilities.

"This is part of routine training arrangements set by our annual work plan, and is intended to improve our units' ability to fulfill their duties. It is in line with international law and the common practice by other navies, and is not targeted at any specific nation or objective," he said in a brief news release.

Wang's remarks came as official confirmation of the latest deployment of China's carrier strike groups, which pointed to the fact that this is the second time that both of the PLA Navy's carrier strike groups have engaged in the same operation. The first one took place in October, when they conducted a joint combat exercise in the South China Sea.

Japan's Ministry of Defense said earlier on Tuesday that this was the first time for two Chinese aircraft carriers to operate in the Pacific at the same time.

While responding to a request for comment on the Japanese ministry's statement, Lin Jian, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, said at a news briefing that the activities of Chinese naval vessels in relevant waters are in full compliance with international law and international practice.

"China consistently pursues a defensive national defense policy, and we hope that the Japanese side could view this matter objectively and rationally," he said.

Song Zhongping, a military affairs commentator and retired PLA Rocket Force officer, said that China uses its carrier forces to safeguard its own sovereignty, security and interests rather than threatening other countries, especially in light of China's growing overseas interests.

"The main reason Western nations continue to point fingers at us is that our carriers had hardly reached waters this far in the past, a fact that led to their notion that we would never be able to do that. They will get used to our carriers sailing in oceans after we make such long-range operations a regular practice," he said.

The commentator noted that operating in unfamiliar waters will help commanders, sailors and pilots accustom themselves to sophisticated battle scenarios and strengthen the strike groups' combat prowess and support capacity.

Currently, the PLA Navy operates two aircraft carriers — the Liaoning and Shandong. Both have a standard displacement of around 50,000 tons and a conventional propulsion system, and they use a ski jump method for launching J-15 fighter jets.

The country has built a third aircraft carrier — the CNS Fujian, which displaces more than 80,000 metric tons of water and uses an electromagnetic launch system, or electromagnetic catapult, to launch fixed-wing aircraft.

The new carrier is the largest and mightiest warship any Asian nation has ever built, as well as the world's biggest non-US aircraft carrier.

zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn