China's Liaoning aircraft carrier and Chinese-Russian bombers approached Japan's Pacific coasts off Shikoku and the Kii Peninsula in December before turning back together, coinciding with US-Japan joint drills and potentially testing allied readiness, Defense Ministry sources told Jiji Press.
The maneuvers occurred while the US 7th Fleet's carrier George Washington conducted exercises with Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force south of the Kanto region. The coordinated turn-back at nearly identical longitudes off eastern Japan underscores possible intent to gauge response times.
This follows earlier events in the same deployment, including a December 6 radar-locking incident near Miyako Island where Chinese aircraft targeted scrambled Japanese Air Self-Defense Force fighters, and observations of the flotilla entering the East China Sea around December 12.
Such activities reflect China's growing PLA naval and air presence, heightening tensions in China-Japan and US-China relations amid evolving Pacific security dynamics.
