A BRAND new Chinese aircraft carrier has strengthened Xi Jinping’s hand just as a row has erupted over the future of Taiwan.
The aircraft carrier known as ‘Fujian’ was flown out for its first live-force training since beginning its service in the Chinese military.
‘Fujian’ was flown out for its first live-force training since being deployedCredit: AFP
The aircraft carrier has sparked rising tensions between Japan and China over TaiwanCredit: AP
The mission included various types of carried based air crafts, including the J-35, J-15T, J-15DT, and the KJ-600 early warning aircraft, to test the compatibility between Fujian and the planes it will carry.
The drills tested Fujian’s electromagnetic catapult and recovery systems as well as its flight-deck handling capabilities, according to CGTN .
Despite having since returned to a naval port in Sanya, the aircraft’s drill could further strain already tense relations between China and Japan.
Comments from conservative Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi have sparked a vicious back-and-forth with Taiwan at its centre.
In a parliamentary committee, Takaichi suggested Chinese intervention in Taiwan could be grounds for a military response.
She further suggested the drill could signify the foreshadowing of a Chinese invasion.
“If it involves the use of warships and military actions, it could by all means become a survival-threatening situation,” she said.
Takaichi has taken a stronger stance than her predecessors, who expressed concern over the Chinese threat to Taiwan without openly stating how the country would respond.
Her comments sparked furore in China, with the consul general in Osaka stooping to high-school social media tactics, accusing Takaichi of interfering in Chinese affairs.
The now deleted post said China would have no choice but to cut off an intruding “dirty neck”.
The president of the Center for China and Globalization Wang Huiyao also weighed in, saying her comments “came as a surprise”.
Takaichi refused to retract her remarks, saying she would however, avoid talking about “specific scenarios” in the future.
The Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi backed his leader, saying the Chinese consul general’s post was “extremely inappropriate”.
He confirmed the Japanese position towards Taiwan remained unchanged.
The spat has escalated between the countries as politicians in all areas of government traded insults.
Coming to a head on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told media that Premier Li Qiang “[had] no arrangement to meet with the Japanese leader” during the upcoming Group of 20 summit in South Africa.
Japan’s Prime Minister suggested the carrier’s mission could suggest a Chinese invasion of TaiwanCredit: AFP
Chinese President Xi Jinping during a ceremony with King Felipe VI of SpainCredit: Reuters
Japan has since dispatched a senior diplomat to Beijing in a effort to calm the waters.
Takaichi’s comments came after to distribute millions of civil defence handbooks to households this week.
The handbook, unveiled in September, includes for the first time instructions on what to do if citizens encounter enemy soldiers.
It stresses that any claims of Taiwan’s surrender should be considered false.
China has shown an with D-Day style barges carrying enormous “water bridges”, designed to create a causeway leading directly onto the shore – and could allow Xi Jinping to stage a full amphibious invasion of tiny Taiwan.
These have been spotted in satellite pictures moored up, but new footage shows one of the .
Their ability to link up and create a causeway almost a kilometre long has also been documented in action.
