Two US aircraft carrier groups have entered the disputed South China Sea for training, the department of defence said on Monday as Taiwan reported a new Chinese air force incursion at the top of the waterway including a fearsome new electronic warfare jet.
The South China Sea and self-governing Taiwan are two of China’s most sensitive territorial issues and both are frequent areas of tension between the United States and China.
Two US aircraft carrier groups have entered the disputed South China Sea for training, the department of defence said on Monday as Taiwan reported a new Chinese air force incursion at the top of the waterway including a fearsome new electronic warfare jet.
The South China Sea and self-governing Taiwan are two of China’s most sensitive territorial issues and both are frequent areas of tension between the United States and China.
{{/usCountry}}The South China Sea and self-governing Taiwan are two of China’s most sensitive territorial issues and both are frequent areas of tension between the United States and China.
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The US department of defence said the two US Navy Carrier Strike Groups, led by their flagships USS Carl Vinson and USS Abraham Lincoln, had begun operations in the South China Sea on Sunday.
The news of the US operations coincides with Taiwan reporting the latest mass incursion by China’s air force into its air defence identification zone - 39 aircraft - in an area close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands in the northern reaches of the South China Sea.
Taiwan on Monday reported a further 13 Chinese aircraft in the zone, with one, an anti-submarine Y-8, flying through the Bashi Channel which separates Taiwan from the Philippines and connects the Pacific to the South China Sea, according to a map provided by Taiwan’s defence ministry.
The ministry added that two Chinese J-16Ds took part in the mission, though kept close to China’s coast, a new electronic attack version of the J-16 fighter designed to target anti-aircraft defences of the sort Taiwan would rely on to fend off an attack.
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