Satellite images have emerged showing dozens of Chinese naval vessels putting on a show of force in the South China Sea.
The overhead images confirm a carrier group has entered the vital trade waterway off Hainan island as part of what Beijing earlier described as combat drills that were part of routine annual exercises.
The overhead images confirm a carrier group has entered the vital trade waterway off Hainan island as part of what Beijing earlier described as combat drills that were part of routine annual exercises.
Up to 40 ships can be seen in a line formation with submarines flanking the carrier Liaoning and aircraft above.
Some analysts have described the movements, captured in photos taken on Monday and provided by Planet Labs Inc, as an unusually large display of the Chinese military's growing naval might
The exercises come amid fresh signs of tension in the resource-rich waterway, with Vietnam recently halting oil exploration off its coast by Spanish firm Repsol under pressure from Beijing.
Beijing also objected to a so-called freedom of navigation patrol by a U.S. warship last week close to one of its artificial islands in the Spratlys archipelago further south.
According to the Taiwanese defence ministry, the Liaoning carrier group also crossed the Taiwan Strait last week.
Jeffrey Lewis, a security expert at the California-based based Middlebury Institute of Strategic Studies, said the images showed the first confirmation that the carrier was joining the drills.
'It's an incredible picture,' he said. 'That's the big news to me. Confirmation that, yes, the carrier participated in the exercise.'
Comments
Post a Comment