(Adds visit by U.S. carrier group to South China Sea)
SHANGHAI, April 6 (Reuters) - A Chinese carrier group is
exercising near Taiwan and such drills will become regular,
China's navy said late on Monday in a further escalation of
tensions near the island that Beijing claims as its sovereign
territory.
The U.S. Navy said on Tuesday that its Theodore Roosevelt
Carrier Strike Group (TRCSG) entered the South China Sea on
April 4 to conduct routine operations, its second such visit
this year, amid stepped up U.S.-China tensions. Taiwan has complained of an increase in Chinese military
activity near the island in recent months, as China steps up
efforts to assert its sovereignty over the democratically run
island, which receives weapons and other support from the United
States.
China's navy said the carrier group, lead by the Liaoning,
the country's first aircraft carrier put into active service,
was carrying out "routine" drills in the waters near Taiwan.
The aim is to "enhance its capability to safeguard national
sovereignty, safety and development interests", it said.
"Similar exercises will be conducted on a regular basis in
the future," the navy added, without elaborating.
China's statement follows Taiwan's Defence Ministry
reporting a new incursion by China's air force into the island's
air defence identification zone on Monday. Taiwan's Defence Ministry said it had a "full grasp" of the
situation in the air and at sea surrounding Taiwan and that it
was "appropriately handling" the matter.
Japan's Defence Ministry said on Sunday that the Liaoning,
accompanied by five escort ships, had transited the Miyako
Strait on their way to the Pacific.
China's widely read Global Times, published by the ruling
Communist Party's official People's Daily, noted the Nanchang,
the first of a powerful new fleet of Type 055 destroyers that
entered service last year, was part of the carrier group.
"The combination of aircraft carriers and Type 055 large
destroyers will become a standard configuration of Chinese
aircraft carrier task groups in the future," it added.
The Liaoning and its sister ship the Shandong have carried
out drills or sailed near Taiwan before.
In December 2019, shortly before presidential and
parliamentary elections in Taiwan, the Shandong sailed through
the sensitive Taiwan Strait, a move condemned by Taiwan as
attempted intimidation.
Taiwan is China's most sensitive territorial issue and a
potential military flashpoint. China has never renounced the use
of force to bring the island under its control.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen is overseeing a revamp of the
island's military, rolling out new equipment such as "carrier
killer" stealth corvettes.