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Taiwan confirms Chinese aircraft carrier transit in Taiwan Strait

ROC Central News Agency

03/18/2022 10:01 PM

Taipei, March 18 (CNA) A Chinese aircraft carrier sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Friday, Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) confirmed, adding that it had a full grasp of the situation in the sensitive waters.

The Chinese carrier Shandong sailed northward through the Taiwan Strait on Friday morning, while an American destroyer "shadowed" the carrier at least for part of its route, Reuters reported on Friday.

The carrier appeared around 30 nautical miles to the southwest of Kinmen at around 10:30 a.m. and was photographed by a passenger on a Taiwanese civilian flight, the report said, citing a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

MND spokesman Shih Shun-wen (史順文) later confirmed the report, saying the military had a full grasp of the activities of Chinese aircraft and vessels in the Taiwan Strait and would safeguard national security.

The Reuters' report also said the transit came at a provocative timing, as United States President Joe Biden and China's leader Xi Jinping (習近平) were scheduled to talk on the phone about the Russian invasion of Ukraine later the same day.

However, Lin Ying-yu (林穎佑), an assistant professor at National Sun Yat-sen University who is also a defense expert, had a different view, saying he believed the transit by the carrier was not a display of the Chinese military's might.

He told CNA that the carrier did not seem to be conducting an exercise, judging from the civilian photo which showed no aircraft on the ship's flight deck.

Meanwhile, Chieh Chung (揭仲), an associate research fellow at the National Policy Foundation in Taipei, said he was not certain about the carrier's itinerary but the direction of the ship could have different meanings.

If the carrier headed northward, it was probably going to a shipbuilding docks in Dalian City to receive maintenance, but if the ship sailed southward, it could be heading to Hainan Island for exercises, Chieh said.

(By Matt Yu and Teng Pei-ju)

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